What Does Ecclesiastes 2:19 Mean?

who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things); also (indefinitely) whoever; often used in oblique construction with prefix or suffix

“And who knoweth”

to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including o

“whether he shall be a wise”

wise, (i.e., intelligent, skilful or artful)

to exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)

desire (and so probably in proverbs 31:4); hence (by way of alternative) or, also if

“man or a fool”

silly

“yet shall he have rule”

to dominate, i.e., govern; by implication, to permit

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

“over all my labour”

toil, i.e., wearing effort; hence, worry, whether of body or mind

“wherein I have laboured”

to toil, i.e., work severely and with irksomeness

“and wherein I have shewed myself wise”

to be wise (in mind, word or act)

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

properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and

the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that

“This is also vanity”

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