Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, New Living Translation So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. English Standard Version There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, Berean Standard Bible Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. King James Bible There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. New King James Version Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. New American Standard Bible There is nothing better for a person than to eat and drink, and show himself some good in his trouble. This too I have seen, that it is from the hand of God. NASB 1995 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. NASB 1977 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen, that it is from the hand of God. Legacy Standard Bible There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and have his soul see good in his labor. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. Amplified Bible There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and assure himself that there is good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God. Christian Standard Bible There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, Holman Christian Standard Bible There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work. I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, American Standard Version There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. Aramaic Bible in Plain English There is no good for a man but to eat and to drink and to show good to his soul in his work; this also I have seen that it is from the hand of LORD JEHOVAH Brenton Septuagint Translation A man has nothing really good to eat, and to drink, and to shew his soul as good in his trouble. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. Contemporary English Version The best thing we can do is to enjoy eating, drinking, and working. I believe these are God's gifts to us, Douay-Rheims Bible Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God. English Revised Version There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. GOD'S WORD® Translation There is nothing better for people to do than to eat, drink, and find satisfaction in their work. I saw that even this comes from the hand of God. Good News Translation The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. International Standard Version The only worthwhile thing for a human being is to eat, drink, and enjoy life's goodness that he finds in what he accomplishes. This, I observed, is also from the hand of God himself, JPS Tanakh 1917 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy pleasure for his labour. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. Literal Standard Version There is nothing good in a man who eats, and has drunk, and has shown his soul good in his labor. This also I have seen that it [is] from the hand of God. Majority Standard Bible Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. New American Bible There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God. NET Bible There is nothing better for people than to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in their work. I also perceived that this ability to find enjoyment comes from God. New Revised Standard Version There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; New Heart English Bible There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. Webster's Bible Translation There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. World English Bible There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. Young's Literal Translation There is nothing good in a man who eateth, and hath drunk, and hath shewn his soul good in his labour. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context The Futility of Work…23Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile. 24Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. 25For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment?… Cross References Luke 12:19 Then I will say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!"' 1 Corinthians 15:32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for human motives, what did I gain? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 1 Timothy 6:17 Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. Ecclesiastes 2:3 I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom--until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. Ecclesiastes 2:25 For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment? Ecclesiastes 3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live, Ecclesiastes 3:13 and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor--this is the gift of God. Treasury of Scripture There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. nothing Ecclesiastes 3:12,13,22 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life… Ecclesiastes 5:18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. Ecclesiastes 8:15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun. make his soul enjoy good Ecclesiastes 3:13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 5:19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 6:2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. Jump to Previous Better Delight Drink Drunk Eat Eateth Enjoy Enjoyment Find Good Hand Labor Meat Pleasure Satisfaction Shewn Soul Toil WorkJump to Next Better Delight Drink Drunk Eat Eateth Enjoy Enjoyment Find Good Hand Labor Meat Pleasure Satisfaction Shewn Soul Toil WorkEcclesiastes 2 1. the vanity of human courses is the work of pleasure12. Though the wise be better than the fool, yet both have one event 18. The vanity of human labor, in leaving it they know not to whom 24. Nothing better than joy in our labor but that is God's gift (24) Nothing better.--"Not good" is the sense of the Hebrew as it stands, for it will be observed that the word "than" is in italics. But as this word might easily have dropped out by a transcriber's error, interpreters, taking in connection Ecclesiastes 3:12; Ecclesiastes 3:22; Ecclesiastes 5:18; Ecclesiastes 8:15, generally agree to modify the text so as to give it the meaning of our version, according to which the sense is: "Seeing the uncertainty of the future, the only good a man can get from his labour is that present pleasure which he can make it yield to himself; and whether he can even enjoy so much as this depends on God." If the text be not altered, the sense is: "It is not good for a man to eat, &c, seeing it depends on God whether or not that is possible."Verse 24. - There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink. The Vulgate makes the sentence interrogative, which the Hebrew does not sanction, Nonne melius est comedere et bibere? Septuagint Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθὸν ἀνθρώπῳ ο{ φάγεται καὶ ο{ πίεται, "There is naught good to a man to eat or drink;" St. Jerome and others insert misi, "except for a man to eat," etc. This and the Authorized Version, which are more or less approved by most critics, make the writer enunciate a kind of modified Epicureanism, quotations in confirmation of which will be found set forth by Plumptre. It is not pretended that the present Hebrew text admits this exposition, and critics have agreed to modify the original in order to express the sense which they give to the passage. As it stands, the sentence runs, "It is not good in (בָּ) man that he should eat," etc. This is supposed to clash with later statements; e.g. Ecclesiastes 3:12, 13; Ecclesiastes 8:15; and to condemn all bodily pleasure even in its simplest form. Hence commentators insert מ ("than") before שֶׁיּלֺאכַל, supposing that the initial mere has dropped out after the terminal of the preceding word, adam (comp. Ecclesiastes 3:22). This solution of a difficulty might be allowed were the Hebrew otherwise incapable of explanation without doing violence to the sentiments elsewhere expressed. But this is not the case. As Metals has seen, the great point lies in the preposition ב, and what is stated is that it does not depend on man, it is not in his power, he is not at liberty to eat and drink and enjoy himself simply at his own will; his power and ability proceed wholly from God. A higher authority than his decides the matter. The phrase, "to eat and drink," is merely a periphrasis for living in comfort, peace, and affluence. St. Gregory, who holds that here and in other places Koheleth seems to contradict himself, makes a remark which is of general application, "He who looks to the text, and does not acquaint himself with the sense of the Holy Word, is not so much furnishing himself with instruction as bewildering himself in uncertainty, in that the literal words sometimes contradict themselves; but whilst by their oppositeness they stand at variance with themselves, they direct the reader to a truth that is to be understood" ('Moral.,' 4:1). They who read Epicureanism into the text fall into the error here denounced. They take the expression, "eat and drink," in the narrowest sense of bodily pleasure, whereas it was by no means so confined in the mind of a Hebrew. To eat bread in the kingdom of God, to take a place at the heavenly banquet, represents the highest bliss of glorified man (Luke 14:15; Revelation 19:9, etc.). In a lower degree it signifies earthly prosperity, as in Jeremiah 22:15, "Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? then it was well with him." So in our passage we find only the humiliating truth that man in himself is powerless to make his life happy or his labors successful. There is no Epicurean-ism, even in a modified form, in the Hebrew text as it has come down to us. With other supposed traces of this philosophy we shall have to deal subsequently (see on Ecclesiastes 3:12; 6:2). And that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor; i.e. taste the enjoyment of his labor, get pleasure as the reward of all his exertions, or find it in the actual pursuit. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God. This is the point - the power of enjoyment depends on the will of God. The next verse substantiates this assertion. Parallel Commentaries ... Hebrew Nothingאֵֽין־ (’ên-) Adverb Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle [is] better ט֤וֹב (ṭō·wḇ) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good for man בָּאָדָם֙ (bā·’ā·ḏām) Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being than to eat שֶׁיֹּאכַ֣ל (še·yō·ḵal) Pronoun - relative | Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 398: To eat and drink וְשָׁתָ֔ה (wə·šā·ṯāh) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 8354: To imbibe and וְהֶרְאָ֧ה (wə·her·’āh) Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim enjoy רָאִ֣יתִי (rā·’î·ṯî) Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular Strong's 7200: To see his work. בַּעֲמָל֑וֹ (ba·‘ă·mā·lōw) Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular Strong's 5999: Toil, wearing effort, worry, wheth, of body, mind I אָ֔נִי (’ā·nî) Pronoun - first person common singular Strong's 589: I have also גַּם־ (gam-) Conjunction Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and seen הִֽיא׃ (hî) Pronoun - third person feminine singular Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are that כִּ֛י (kî) Conjunction Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction this [is] זֹה֙ (zōh) Pronoun - feminine singular Strong's 2090: This, that from the hand מִיַּ֥ד (mî·yaḏ) Preposition-m | Noun - feminine singular construct Strong's 3027: A hand of God. הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm) Article | Noun - masculine plural Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative Links Ecclesiastes 2:24 NIVEcclesiastes 2:24 NLT Ecclesiastes 2:24 ESV Ecclesiastes 2:24 NASB Ecclesiastes 2:24 KJV Ecclesiastes 2:24 BibleApps.com Ecclesiastes 2:24 Biblia Paralela Ecclesiastes 2:24 Chinese Bible Ecclesiastes 2:24 French Bible Ecclesiastes 2:24 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.) |
    |