Ecclesiastes 2:24 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

²⁴ 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,

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

²⁴ 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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

²⁴ There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and make himself enjoy good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God.

American Standard Version (1901)

²⁴ 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.

Common English Bible

²⁴ There’s nothing better for human beings than to eat, drink, and experience pleasure in their hard work. I also saw that this is from God’s hand—

Catholic Public Domain Version

²⁴ Is it not better to eat and drink, and to show his soul the good things of his labors? And this is from the hand of God.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

²⁴ 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.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 Cross References

1 Kings 4:20

Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate and drank and were happy.

Nehemiah 8:10

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Ecclesiastes 2:10

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure from all my toil, and this was my reward from all my toil.

Ecclesiastes 2:25

for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?

Ecclesiastes 2:3

I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life.

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 5:17

Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.

Ecclesiastes 6:12

For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 6:2

those to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that they lack nothing of all that they desire, yet God does not enable them to enjoy these things, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous ill.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I commend enjoyment, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and enjoy themselves, for this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God gives them under the sun.

Isaiah 56:12

“Come,” they say, “let us get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow will be like today, great beyond measure.”

Malachi 2:2

If you will not listen, if you will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings; indeed, I have already cursed them because you do not lay it to heart.

Acts 14:17

yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.”

1 Corinthians 15:32

If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

Deuteronomy 12:12

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).

Deuteronomy 12:18

these you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God in all your undertakings.

1 Timothy 6:17

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.