Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Ecclesiastes 2:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 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.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse states that wise, knowledgeable, skillful labor can pass as a portion to someone who did not work for it.
Read It With
- Ecclesiastes 2:18-23
Read Ecclesiastes 2:21 with 2:18-23. This verse states that wise, knowledgeable, skillful labor can pass as a portion to someone who did not work for it. The full unit establishes this movement: Qoheleth despairs because skilled labor and its accumulated results pass to someone whose wisdom is unknown and who did not perform the work, while anxiety continues through the night.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Inheritance exposes why labor cannot create lasting ownership: death transfers control and anxiety can consume even the present portion. Within that movement, this verse states that wise, knowledgeable, skillful labor can pass as a portion to someone who did not work for it.
Follow the Context
- The speaker hates labor because it must be left behind.
- The successor may be wise or foolish yet will rule the result.
- The heart turns toward despair.
- A worker may leave an equitable, wise achievement to one who did not labor for it.
- Day sorrow and night restlessness reveal labor's interior cost.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“equity”
In plain language: Skill, success, or aptitude in the labor, not only moral fairness.
states that wise, knowledgeable, skillful labor can pass as a portion to someone who did not work for it. Effort and later ownership are not reliably proportional, exposing inheritance as both ordinary transfer and severe frustration.
Why it matters: The wording carries interpretive or ethical risk requiring the complete unit and stated limits.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
The verse does not say recipients who did not perform the original labor have no legitimate needs or rights.
It does not justify exploitation on the theory that all transfer is vanity.
What Remains True
Effort and later ownership are not reliably proportional, exposing inheritance as both ordinary transfer and severe frustration.
How It Can Shape Life
- Use transparent succession and fair distribution without treating labor as a claim to endless ownership.
Teach It Back
Explain Ecclesiastes 2:21's precise role in Ecclesiastes 2:18-23. Include the complete movement, one material uncertainty, and one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Ecclesiastes 2:18-23 — Labor Passes to an Unknown HeirSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
KJV 'equity' likely means skill or success here, though ethical fairness remains relevant to application.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Ecclesiastes 2:18-23, repository-pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, repeated-word, and translation questions.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Eccl.xml, 2:18-23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Ecclesiastes with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level textual, grammatical, lexical, literary, and translation alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible Ecclesiastes PDF, printed pp. 1193-1194, translation and notes on 2:18-23
Open source ↗