What Does Ecclesiastes 2:17 Mean?

“Therefore I hated”

to hate (personally)

properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)

“life”

alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or livin

(by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed

“is grievous”

bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)

above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications

“because the work”

an action (good or bad); generally, a transaction; abstractly, activity; by implication, a product (specifically, a poem) or (generally) property

“that is wrought”

to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application

the bottom (as depressed); only adverbially, below (often with prepositional prefix underneath), in lieu of, etc

“under the sun”

the sun; by implication, the east; figuratively, a ray, i.e., (architectural) a notched battlement

(by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed

properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)

“unto me for all is vanity”

emptiness or vanity; figuratively, something transitory and unsatisfactory; often used as an adverb

“and vexation”

a feeding upon, i.e., grasping after

“of spirit”

wind; by resemblance breath, i.e., a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the