קהלת 2:11

Hebrew Modern Translation

ופניתי אני בכל מעשי שעשו ידי ובעמל שעמלתי לעשות והנה הכל הבל ורעות רוח ואין יתרון תחת השמש׃

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Aleppo Codex
ופניתי אני בכל מעשי שעשו ידי ובעמל שעמלתי לעשות והנה הכל הבל ורעות רוח ואין יתרון תחת השמש

Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
וּפָנִ֣יתִֽי אֲנִ֗י בְּכָל־מַעֲשַׂי֙ שֶֽׁעָשׂ֣וּ יָדַ֔י וּבֶֽעָמָ֖ל שֶׁעָמַ֣לְתִּי לַעֲשֹׂ֑ות וְהִנֵּ֨ה הַכֹּ֥ל הֶ֙בֶל֙ וּרְע֣וּת ר֔וּחַ וְאֵ֥ין יִתְרֹ֖ון תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ ׃

Westminster Leningrad Codex
וּפָנִיתִֽי אֲנִי בְּכָל־מַעֲשַׂי שֶֽׁעָשׂוּ יָדַי וּבֶֽעָמָל שֶׁעָמַלְתִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת וְהִנֵּה הַכֹּל הֶבֶל וּרְעוּת רוּחַ וְאֵין יִתְרוֹן תַּחַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I looked: Ecclesiastes 1:14, Genesis 1:31, Exodus 39:43, 1 John 2:16, 1 John 2:17

behold: Ecclesiastes 2:17-23, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Habakkuk 2:13, 1 Timothy 6:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:17 - cursed 2 Chronicles 7:11 - all that came Psalms 39:5 - verily Psalms 119:96 - I have seen Proverbs 14:13 - General Proverbs 15:16 - great Proverbs 27:20 - so Ecclesiastes 1:2 - General Ecclesiastes 1:8 - full Ecclesiastes 1:17 - I perceived Ecclesiastes 3:9 - General Ecclesiastes 3:22 - nothing Ecclesiastes 4:16 - this Ecclesiastes 5:10 - this Ecclesiastes 6:9 - this Jeremiah 2:13 - broken cisterns

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and labour of mind, he had taken in contriving, designing, and bringing these works to perfection; what pleasure and delight he had found in them, and what happiness upon the whole arose from them: he now passes his judgment, and gives his sentiments concerning these things, having had it in his power to make himself master of everything delightful, which he did; was a competent judge, and thoroughly qualified to give a just estimate of matters; and it is as follows;

and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit; nothing solid and substantial in the whole; no true pleasure and real joy, and no satisfaction or happiness in that pleasure; these pleasing things perished with the using, and the pleasure of them faded and died in the enjoyment of them; and instead of yielding solid delight, only proved vexations, because the pleasure was so soon over, and left a thirst for more, and what was not to be had; at most and best, only the outward senses were fed, the mind not at all improved, nor the heart made better, and much less contented; it was only pleasing the fancy and imagination, and feeding on wind;

and [there was] no profit under the sun; by those things; to improve and satisfy the mind of man, to raise him to true happiness, to be of any service to him in the hour of death, or fit him for an eternal world. Alshech interprets the labour mentioned in this text of the labour of the law, which brings no reward to a man in this world.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:11. And, behold, all was vanity — Emptiness and insufficiency in itself.

And vexation of spirit — Because it promised the good I wished for, but did not, could not, perform the promise; and left my soul discontented and chagrined.