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KING JAMES BIBLE · PCE

Ecclesiastes 2:22–23

TEXT EDITION
Pure Cambridge Edition selected
For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.
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PASSAGE SELECTION

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2 selected · 24 available

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SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE

Cross References

All 34 ranked passages are available for comparison.

From verse 22

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:3Rank 1 from verse 22
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    3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

  2. Psalms 127:2Rank 2 from verse 22
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    2It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

  3. 1 Peter 5:7Rank 3 from verse 22
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    7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

  4. 1 Timothy 6:8Rank 4 from verse 22
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    8And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

  5. Ecclesiastes 3:9Rank 5 from verse 22
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    9What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

  6. Ecclesiastes 4:6Rank 6 from verse 22
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    6Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

  7. Matthew 6:34Rank 7 from verse 22
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    34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

  8. Philippians 4:6Rank 8 from verse 22
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    6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

  9. Ecclesiastes 4:8Rank 9 from verse 22
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    8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

  10. Ecclesiastes 5:10–11Rank 10 from verse 22
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    10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

    11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

  11. Ecclesiastes 5:17Rank 11 from verse 22
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    17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

  12. Ecclesiastes 6:7–8Rank 12 from verse 22
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    7All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

    8For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

  13. Ecclesiastes 8:15Rank 13 from verse 22
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    15Then 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.

  14. Matthew 16:26Rank 14 from verse 22
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    26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

  15. Matthew 6:11Rank 15 from verse 22
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    11Give us this day our daily bread.

  16. Luke 12:22Rank 16 from verse 22
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    22¶ And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

  17. Luke 12:29Rank 17 from verse 22
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    29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

  18. Matthew 6:25Rank 18 from verse 22
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    25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

  19. Proverbs 16:26Rank 19 from verse 22
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    26He that laboureth laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him.

From verse 23

  1. Job 14:1Rank 1 from verse 23
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    1MAN that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

  2. Job 5:7Rank 2 from verse 23
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    7Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

  3. Job 7:13–14Rank 3 from verse 23
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    13When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

    14Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

  4. Psalms 127:2Rank 4 from verse 23
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    2It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

  5. Psalms 6:6–7Rank 5 from verse 23
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    6I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.

    7Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.

  6. Acts 14:22Rank 6 from verse 23
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    22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

  7. Daniel 6:18Rank 7 from verse 23
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    18¶ Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

  8. Ecclesiastes 1:18Rank 8 from verse 23
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    18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

  9. Ecclesiastes 5:12Rank 9 from verse 23
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    12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

  10. Esther 6:1Rank 10 from verse 23
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    1ON that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.

  11. Genesis 47:9Rank 11 from verse 23
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    9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

  12. Psalms 32:4Rank 12 from verse 23
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    4For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

  13. Psalms 77:2–4Rank 13 from verse 23
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    2In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

    3I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

    4Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

  14. Psalms 90:15Rank 14 from verse 23
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    15Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

  15. Psalms 90:7–10Rank 15 from verse 23
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    7For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

    8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

    9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

    10The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

WORDS IN THIS PASSAGE

Definitions

Open a word for its full definition and concordance.

DEFINED WORDS

Ecclesiastes 2:22

COMBINED MEANING

for

↗

1. In behalf of or in the place of. 2. With respect to, concerning, or toward. 3. Because of or on account of. 4. During or throughout. 5. In order to obtain or reach. 6. As a conjunction, because or seeing that.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

man

↗

1. A human being or person. 2. Mankind collectively. 3. A male person.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

labour

↗

1. Work, toil, effort, exertion, service, or the product of work. 2. Weariness or trouble. 3. Travail in childbirth. 4. To work, strive, serve, or exert oneself.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

heart

↗

Sense 1: The bodily organ. Sense 2: The inward person: the mind, will, affections, conscience, or moral character.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

sun

↗

The great light that rules the day and gives light and heat.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

DEFINED WORDS

Ecclesiastes 2:23

COMBINED MEANING

for

↗

1. In behalf of or in the place of. 2. With respect to, concerning, or toward. 3. Because of or on account of. 4. During or throughout. 5. In order to obtain or reach. 6. As a conjunction, because or seeing that.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

travail

↗

Sense 1: The painful labour and anguish of childbirth. Sense 2: To undergo such labour. Sense 3: Severe toil, trouble, sorrow, or suffering.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references · Skeat 1893 · Webster 1828

COMBINED MEANING

grief

↗

Sorrow, pain, distress, anguish, trouble, burden, injury, or the cause of such suffering in mind, body, or spirit.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

yea

↗

1. Indeed, marking confirmation, emphasis, addition, continuation, or heightening of what is said; it may also emphasize a question. 2. Yes, expressing an affirmative answer or declaration.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

heart

↗

Sense 1: The bodily organ. Sense 2: The inward person: the mind, will, affections, conscience, or moral character.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

taketh

↗

Third-person singular present form of take: receives, seizes, carries, accepts, chooses, or lays hold of.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

rest

↗

Sense 1: To cease from labour or motion, lie still, settle, remain, or rely; also repose, peace, security, or an abiding place. Sense 2: The remaining persons or things after a part is distinguished.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

in

↗

1. A preposition marking position, presence, state, circumstance, manner, means, sphere, reference, relation, association, or participation. 2. As an adverb, inward, inside, or into the place or position referred to.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

night

↗

1. The dark part of the daily cycle distinguished from day, from evening until morning, or any portion of it. 2. A time or condition compared with night or darkness.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

COMBINED MEANING

vanity

↗

Emptiness, futility, worthlessness, falsehood, unreliability, or transience.

Meaning drawn from: KJV context and cross-references

READ THE PASSAGE

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Suggested context · Ecclesiastes 2:18–23

The selected passage is highlighted. Context is a study aid.

2:18¶ Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

2:19And 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.

2:20Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

2:21For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

2:22For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

Selected passage

2:23For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

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