Teks -- Ecclesiastes 2:11 (NET)

2:11 Yet when I reflected on everything I had accomplished and on all the effort that I had expended to accomplish it, I concluded: “All these achievements and possessions are ultimately profitless– like chasing the wind! There is nothing gained from them on earth.”

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Ecc 2:11 - Vexation

I found myself wholly dissatisfied.

Wesley: Ecc 2:11 - No profit

The pleasure was past, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before.

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11

Illustration more at large of Ecc 2:1-2.

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11 - I sought

I resolved, after search into many plans.

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11 - give myself unto wine

Literally, "to draw my flesh," or "body to wine" (including all banquetings). Image from a captive drawn after a chariot in triumph (Rom 6:16, Rom 6:19; 1Co 12:2); or, one "allured" (2Pe 2:18-19).

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11 - yet acquainting . . . wisdom

Literally, "and my heart (still) was behaving, or guiding itself," with wisdom [GESENIUS]. MAURER translates: "was weary of (worldly) wisdom." But the end of Ecc 2:9 confirms English Version.

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11 - folly

Namely, pleasures of the flesh, termed "mad," Ecc 2:2.

JFB: Ecc 2:3-11 - all the days, &c.

(See Margin and Ecc 6:12; Job 15:20).

JFB: Ecc 2:11

But all these I felt were only "vanity," and of "no profit" as to the chief good. "Wisdom" (worldly common sense, sagacity), which still "remained with me" (Ecc 2:9), showed me that these could not give solid happiness.

Clarke: Ecc 2:11 - And, behold, all was vanity

And, behold, all was vanity - Emptiness and insufficiency in itself

Clarke: Ecc 2:11 - And vexation of spirit

And vexation of spirit - Because it promised the good I wished for, but did not, could not, perform the promise; and left my soul discontented and chagrined.

TSK: Ecc 2:11 - I looked // behold

I looked : Ecc 1:14; Gen 1:31; Exo 39:43; 1Jo 2:16, 1Jo 2:17

behold : Ecc 2:17-23, Ecc 1:3, Ecc 1:14; Hab 2:13; 1Ti 6:6

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Ecc 2:11 - and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit // There was no profit

I made a serious review of my former works and labours, and considered whether I had obtained that satisfaction in them which I designed and expected;

and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit I found myself suddenly disappointed and wholly dissatisfied in this course.

There was no profit the pleasure was past and gone, and I was never the better for it, but as empty as before, and had nothing left but sorrowful reflections upon it.

Gill: Ecc 2:11 - Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do // and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit // and there was no profit under the sun

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do,.... He had looked at them, and on them, over and over again, and had taken pleasure therein; but now he sits down and enters into a serious consideration of them, what prodigious expenses he had been at; what care and thought, what toil and labour of mind, he had taken in contriving, designing, and bringing these works to perfection; what pleasure and delight he had found in them, and what happiness upon the whole arose from them: he now passes his judgment, and gives his sentiments concerning these things, having had it in his power to make himself master of everything delightful, which he did; was a competent judge, and thoroughly qualified to give a just estimate of matters; and it is as follows;

and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit; nothing solid and substantial in the whole; no true pleasure and real joy, and no satisfaction or happiness in that pleasure; these pleasing things perished with the using, and the pleasure of them faded and died in the enjoyment of them; and instead of yielding solid delight, only proved vexations, because the pleasure was so soon over, and left a thirst for more, and what was not to be had; at most and best, only the outward senses were fed, the mind not at all improved, nor the heart made better, and much less contented; it was only pleasing the fancy and imagination, and feeding on wind;

and there was no profit under the sun; by those things; to improve and satisfy the mind of man, to raise him to true happiness, to be of any service to him in the hour of death, or fit him for an eternal world. Alshech interprets the labour mentioned in this text of the labour of the law, which brings no reward to a man in this world.