Single lesson
Ecclesiastes 2: The Futility of Pleasure
Ecclesiastes 2:1–11; Ecclesiastes 2:12–17; Ecclesiastes 2:18–26
Ecclesiastes 2 asks whether fun, wisdom, or hard work can give real profit. This lesson helps students trace what the writer tested, what he concluded, and what he says is from the hand of God.
Before you teach
In this chapter, the writer speaks from personal testing and reflection. He describes pleasure, projects, wealth, wisdom, and work, then weighs what they finally achieve “under the sun”. Near the end, he says that eating, drinking, and enjoying good in labour are from the hand of God.
Students will be able to name three things the writer examined in Ecclesiastes 2 and explain that the chapter finds no profit under the sun in pleasure or work alone, while saying enjoyment in labour is from the hand of God.
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Browse our craft printables →Welcome: What do people hope will make them happy?
5 minBegin with a simple discussion. Ask students to name things people enjoy, things they work hard for, and things they think are wise choices. Explain that Ecclesiastes 2 examines all three. The writer tests pleasure, considers wisdom and folly, and thinks hard about work and its results.
Ecclesiastes 2:1, Ecclesiastes 2:12, Ecclesiastes 2:18
Read and explain: Pleasure and great achievements
10 minRead Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 aloud. Point out the repeated “I made” and “I got”, showing how much the writer could do and collect. He did not refuse himself what he desired, yet after looking at it all he called it “vanity” and “a chasing after wind”, with no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:1, Ecclesiastes 2:4, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:10, Ecclesiastes 2:11
Discuss: Wisdom is better, yet one event happens to both
8 minRead Ecclesiastes 2:12-17. Help students see that the writer does say wisdom excels folly, like light excels darkness. Yet he is troubled because one event happens to both the wise person and the fool, and both are forgotten. That is why he again calls it vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:12, Ecclesiastes 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:14, Ecclesiastes 2:15, Ecclesiastes 2:16, Ecclesiastes 2:17
Reflect and respond
12 minUse a question from this lesson for a shared discussion. There is no matching catalogue printable linked to this guide yet. The optional learning response below is free teaching material; browse our catalogue if you would like to add one of our craft printables.
Browse our craft printables →Closing: Sum up the chapter carefully
5 minReview the chapter in order. Pleasure did not bring profit under the sun. Wisdom excels folly, yet the wise person and the fool share the same event. Work can bring sorrow when it must be left to another. The Preacher also credits God with enjoyment, wisdom, knowledge and joy, yet ends this contrast by again calling it vanity and chasing after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:14, Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:26
Questions to explore
What did the writer try in verses 1 to 11, and what did he say about it after looking at it all?
Listen for the things he enjoyed and built, then compare them with his conclusion that it was “vanity” and “a chasing after wind”.
Ecclesiastes 2:1, Ecclesiastes 2:4, Ecclesiastes 2:8, Ecclesiastes 2:11
What comparison does the writer make between wisdom and folly, and what problem still troubles him?
Use verse 13 for the comparison, then verses 14 to 16 for the shared outcome of the wise person and the fool.
Ecclesiastes 2:13, Ecclesiastes 2:14, Ecclesiastes 2:15, Ecclesiastes 2:16
According to the end of the chapter, where does the writer say enjoyment in labour comes from?
Look closely at verse 24 and connect it with verse 26, where God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy.
Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:26
Optional learning response Free teaching material
Make and respond: Reminder card about work and God’s hand
Read Ecclesiastes 2:18-26. Explain that the writer is distressed that a person may work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, yet leave everything to someone else. Then notice the change in verses 24-26: eating, drinking, and enjoying good in labour are said to be from the hand of God. Verse 26 distinguishes the one pleasing God, who receives wisdom, knowledge and joy, from the sinner given the task of gathering for the former. The verse then also calls this vanity and chasing after wind; do not omit that continuing tension. Students make a small reminder card with a short phrase from the passage, a sentence explaining what the speaker says in context, and one question the chapter leaves them considering.
Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:21, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 2:26
Ecclesiastes 2 Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- paper or card
- pencils or pens
- crayons or coloured pencils
- Bible
Try it together
- Read Ecclesiastes 2:11, 2:13, 2:24, and 2:26, and let each student choose one verse or short phrase to remember.
- Fold a small piece of paper or card in half to make a reminder card.
- On the front, draw one symbol from the chapter, such as a house, tree, light, or hands at work.
- Inside, write the chosen phrase, one sentence explaining what the speaker says in its context, and one question the chapter leaves you considering.
- Invite students to share their card and explain why they chose that verse.
This activity helps students trace the speaker’s testing of pleasure, wisdom and work, his account of enjoyment from God’s hand, and the continuing vanity conclusion in verse 26.
Adapt for your group
- For readers who need more support, read the chapter in its three main units, explain difficult vocabulary, and compare 2:11, 2:13–17 and 2:24–26 together before choosing a card phrase.
- For more confident readers, sort the chapter into pleasure, wisdom and work, then explain how the gifts in 2:24–26 stand beside the repeated vanity conclusion.
An optional closing prayer
You might pray, “Dear God, thank you for teaching us through this chapter. Please help us understand what has no profit under the sun and to receive enjoyment in our labour as from your hand. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Ecclesiastes 2
1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure;” and behold, this also was vanity.
2 I said of laughter, “It is foolishness;” and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.
5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
6 I made myself pools of water, to water the forest where trees were grown.
7 I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem.
8 I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts.
9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.
10 Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.
11 Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly; for what can the king’s successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.
13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
15 Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.
20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.
21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.
22 For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?
23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.
24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?
26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.