Ecclesiastes 2:23

Bible in Basic English (1941)

All his days are sorrow, and his work is full of grief. Even in the night his heart has no rest. This again is to no purpose.

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Referenced Verses

  • Job 14:1 : 1 As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
  • Job 5:7 : 7 But trouble is man's fate from birth, as the flames go up from the fire.
  • Job 7:13-14 : 13 When I say, In my bed I will have comfort, there I will get rest from my disease; 14 Then you send dreams to me, and visions of fear;
  • Ps 127:2 : 2 It is of no use for you to get up early, and to go late to your rest, with the bread of sorrow for your food; for the Lord gives to his loved ones in sleep.
  • Eccl 1:18 : 18 Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.
  • Eccl 5:12 : 12 There is a great evil which I have seen under the sun--wealth kept by the owner to be his downfall.
  • Dan 6:18 : 18 Then they got a stone and put it over the mouth of the hole, and it was stamped with the king's stamp and with the stamp of the lords, so that the decision about Daniel might not be changed.
  • Acts 14:22 : 22 Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.
  • Gen 47:9 : 9 And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers.
  • Esth 6:1 : 1 That night the king was unable to get any sleep; and he sent for the books of the records; and while some one was reading them to the king,
  • Ps 6:6-7 : 6 The voice of my sorrow is a weariness to me; all the night I make my bed wet with weeping; it is watered by the drops flowing from my eyes. 7 My eyes are wasting away with trouble; they are becoming old because of all those who are against me.
  • Ps 32:4 : 4 For the weight of your hand was on me day and night; my body became dry like the earth in summer. (Selah.)
  • Ps 77:2-4 : 2 In the day of my trouble, my heart was turned to the Lord: my hand was stretched out in the night without resting; my soul would not be comforted. 3 I will keep God in memory, with sounds of grief; my thoughts are troubled, and my spirit is overcome. (Selah.) 4 You keep my eyes from sleep; I am so troubled that no words come.
  • Ps 90:7-9 : 7 We are burned up by the heat of your passion, and troubled by your wrath. 8 You have put our evil doings before you, our secret sins in the light of your face. 9 For all our days have gone by in your wrath; our years come to an end like a breath. 10 The measure of our life is seventy years; and if through strength it may be eighty years, its pride is only trouble and sorrow, for it comes to an end and we are quickly gone.
  • Ps 90:15 : 15 Make us glad in reward for the days of our sorrow, and for the years in which we have seen evil.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 2:17-22
    6 verses
    86%

    17 So I was hating life, because everything under the sun was evil to me: all is to no purpose and desire for wind.

    18 Hate had I for all my work which I had done, because the man who comes after me will have its fruits.

    19 And who is to say if that man will be wise or foolish? But he will have power over all my work which I have done and in which I have been wise under the sun. This again is to no purpose.

    20 So my mind was turned to grief for all the trouble I had taken and all my wisdom under the sun.

    21 Because there is a man whose work has been done with wisdom, with knowledge, and with an expert hand; but one who has done nothing for it will have it for his heritage. This again is to no purpose and a great evil.

    22 What does a man get for all his work, and for the weight of care with which he has done his work under the sun?

  • Eccl 5:16-18
    3 verses
    81%

    16 All his days are in the dark, and he has much sorrow, pain, disease, and trouble.

    17 This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.

    18 Every man to whom God has given money and wealth and the power to have pleasure in it and to do his part and have joy in his work: this is given by God.

  • Eccl 2:10-11
    2 verses
    81%

    10 And nothing which was desired by my eyes did I keep from them; I did not keep any joy from my heart, because my heart took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward.

    11 Then I saw all the works which my hands had made, and everything I had been working to do; and I saw that all was to no purpose and desire for wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

  • Eccl 1:2-3
    2 verses
    79%

    2 All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.

    3 What is a man profited by all his work which he does under the sun?

  • Eccl 4:4
    79%

    4 And I saw that the cause of all the work and of everything which is done well was man's envy of his neighbour. This again is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

  • Eccl 4:7-8
    2 verses
    79%

    7 Then I came back, and I saw an example of what is to no purpose under the sun.

    8 It is one who is by himself, without a second, and without son or brother; but there is no end to all his work, and he has never enough of wealth. For whom, then, am I working and keeping myself from pleasure? This again is to no purpose, and a bitter work.

  • Eccl 2:24-26
    3 verses
    79%

    24 There is nothing better for a man than taking meat and drink, and having delight in his work. This again I saw was from the hand of God.

    25 Who may take food or have pleasure without him?

    26 To the man with whom he is pleased, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of getting goods together and storing up wealth, to give to him in whom God has pleasure. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 1:13-14
    2 verses
    78%

    13 And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.

    14 I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 11:8
    78%

    8 But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 4:16
    78%

    16 There was no end of all the people, of all those whose head he was, but they who come later will have no delight in him. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

  • Eccl 8:14-17
    4 verses
    78%

    14 There is a thing which is to no purpose done on the earth: that there are good men to whom is given the same punishment as those who are evil, and there are evil men who get the reward of the good. I say that this again is to no purpose.

    15 So I gave praise to joy, because there is nothing better for a man to do under the sun than to take meat and drink and be happy; for that will be with him in his work all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

    16 When I gave my mind to the knowledge of wisdom and to seeing the business which is done on the earth (and there are those whose eyes see not sleep by day or by night),

    17 Then I saw all the work of God, and that man may not get knowledge of the work which is done under the sun; because, if a man gives hard work to the search he will not get knowledge, and even if the wise man seems to be coming to the end of his search, still he will be without knowledge.

  • Eccl 6:7
    76%

    7 All the work of man is for his mouth, and still he has a desire for food.

  • Eccl 12:8
    76%

    8 All things are to no purpose, says the Preacher, all is to no purpose.

  • Eccl 3:22
    76%

    22 So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to have joy in his work--because that is his reward. Who will make him see what will come after him?

  • Eccl 6:11-12
    2 verses
    75%

    11 There are words without number for increasing what is to no purpose, but what is man profited by them?

    12 Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?

  • Ps 127:2
    75%

    2 It is of no use for you to get up early, and to go late to your rest, with the bread of sorrow for your food; for the Lord gives to his loved ones in sleep.

  • Eccl 3:9-10
    2 verses
    75%

    9 What profit has the worker in the work which he does?

    10 I saw the work which God has put on the sons of man.

  • Eccl 6:5
    75%

    5 Yes, it saw not the sun, and it had no knowledge; it is better with this than with the other.

  • Ps 39:6
    75%

    6 Truly, every man goes on his way like an image; he is troubled for no purpose: he makes a great store of wealth, and has no knowledge of who will get it.

  • Job 14:22
    74%

    22 Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.

  • Eccl 9:9
    74%

    9 Have joy with the woman of your love all the days of your foolish life which he gives you under the sun. Because that is your part in life and in your work which you do under the sun.

  • Job 7:3
    74%

    3 So I have for my heritage months of pain to no purpose, and nights of weariness are given to me.

  • Eccl 6:9
    74%

    9 What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

  • Eccl 6:2
    74%

    2 A man to whom God gives money, wealth, and honour so that he has all his desires but God does not give him the power to have joy of it, and a strange man takes it. This is to no purpose and an evil disease.

  • Eccl 3:12
    74%

    12 I am certain that there is nothing better for a man than to be glad, and to do good while life is in him.

  • Eccl 9:3
    74%

    3 This is evil in all things which are done under the sun: that there is one fate for all, and the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; while they have life their hearts are foolish, and after that--to the dead.

  • Eccl 3:19
    73%

    19 Because the fate of the sons of men and the fate of the beasts is the same. As is the death of one so is the death of the other, and all have one spirit. Man is not higher than the beasts; because all is to no purpose.

  • Ps 104:23
    73%

    23 Man goes out to his work, and to his business, till the evening.

  • Eccl 8:9
    73%

    9 All this have I seen, and have given my heart to all the work which is done under the sun: there is a time when man has power over man for his destruction.

  • Eccl 1:17
    73%

    17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.

  • Eccl 2:15
    73%

    15 Then said I in my heart: As it comes to the foolish man, so will it come to me; so why have I been wise overmuch? Then I said in my heart: This again is to no purpose.