Ecclesiastes 2:19 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

¹⁹ and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹⁹ And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁹ And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have dominion over all my labor in which I have toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁹ And who knoweth whether he will be a wise man or a fool? yet will he have rule over all my labor wherein I have labored, and wherein I have showed myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Common English Bible

¹⁹ And who knows whether that one will be wise or foolish? Either way, that person will have control over the results of all my hard work and wisdom here under the sun. That too is pointless.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁹ though I know not whether he will be wise or foolish. And yet he will have power over my labors, in which I have toiled and been anxious. And is there anything else so empty?

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹⁹ Whom I know not whether he will be a wise man or a fool, and he shall have rule over all my labours with which I have laboured and been solicitous: and is there any thing so vain?

Ecclesiastes 2:19 Cross References

1 Kings 11:43

Solomon slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

1 Kings 12:13

The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had given him

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:20

So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun,

Ecclesiastes 3:22

So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?

Ecclesiastes 9:13

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

Luke 16:8

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly, for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

1 Timothy 6:10

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

James 1:17

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 3:17

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.