Ecclesiastes 11:10
in Ecclesiastes 11So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
KJV
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
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This verse in Ecclesiastes 11
Commentary
14 notes on this verseIn Scripture the spirit is continuously called "heart."The passage therefore means: Even if we sometimes are caught up in anger, this "anger" should not be allowed into the "heart," so that the anger does not become a permanent condition. And when suddenly a desire comes …
This site's exposition
Rejoice, O young man, while you are young
on Ecclesiastes 11:9-10
Rejoice, O young man, while you are young gives a real command to enjoy life. Know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment, so permission and summons stand together. Verse 10 draws the consequence: banish sorrow from your heart, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
This site's exposition
banish sorrow from your heart
The Hebrew rendered sorrow can also mean anger. Bonaventure reads the verse as a call to cast anger from the heart and uncleanness from the body. Wesley takes the pain as evil desires that seem good to the young.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Put sorrow far from thy flesh, and sadness from thy thoughts; save only that for thy sins thou shouldst be constant in sadness. Cease not from labour, not even though thou be rich, for the slothful man gains manifold guilt by his idleness.
"Rejoice, O young man, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes: but know, that for all these things God will bring you into judgement. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. "In this chapter there were many explanations of all things and almost as many opinions as men themselves.
Therefore, if anger has held out with most shameful boldness in the heart of any one of you until these holy days, now at least let it depart. [Thus] your prayer may proceed in peace and … may not stumble, tremble, or become mute under the pricking of conscience when it has come to that passage where it must say, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive also our debtors."
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureCommentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 11 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Remove anger etc. Here thirdly he exhorts to cast away all wickedness, namely malice of heart and uncleanness of flesh. As to malice of heart he says: Remove anger from your heart, so that you may not be angry, because anger renders a man wicked; …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But it is more emphatic if we take it, as it is commonly understood, by way of irony, like that of Elijah to the priests of Baal ( Cry aloud, for he is a god ), or of Micaiah to Ahab ( Go to Ramoth-Gilead, and prosper ), or of Christ to his disciples, Sleep on now.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Young people are apt to be impatient of check and control, to vex and fret at any thing that is humbling and mortifying to them, and their proud hearts rise against every thing that crosses and contradicts them. They are so set upon that which is pleasing to sense that they cannot bear any thing that is displeasing, but it goes with sorrow to their heart.
4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap. 5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Evil - All evil desires, tho' now they seem good to thee. The time of youth is vanishing and transitory, and old age and death will speedily come, against which every wise man will take care to lay in solid provisions and comforts.
Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Therefore remove sorrow - כעס caas, anger; every kind of violent passion, all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. “Childhood and youth are vanity;” they pass away and come to nothing. Eternity alone is permanent; live for eternity.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
sorrow--that is, the lusts that end in "sorrow," opposed to "rejoice," and "heart cheer thee" (Ec 11:9), Margin, "anger," that is, all "ways of thine heart"; "remove," &c., is thus opposed to "walk in," &c.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Therefore banish anger. [Banish] anything that causes anger to the Omnipresent.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
10. And remove anger from your heart that you should not cause evil to your flesh for youth and the days of blackness of hair are transient.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהָסֵ֥ר | vehaser | and remove | H5493 → | |
| כַּ֙עַס֙ | kaas | vexation | H3708 → | 25 times |
| מִלִּבֶּ֔ךָ | milibekha | from heart your | H3820 → | 595 times |
| וְהַעֲבֵ֥ר | vehaaver | and put away | H5674 → | |
| רָעָ֖ה | raah | evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
| מִבְּשָׂרֶ֑ךָ | mibesarekha | from flesh your | H1320 → | 270 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הַיַּלְד֥וּת | haiyaldut | <the> youth | H3208 → | |
| וְהַֽשַּׁחֲר֖וּת | vehashacharut | and the black hair | H7839 → | |
| הָֽבֶל׃ | havel | [are] futility | H1892 → | 73 times |
וְהָסֵ֥רand remove
vehaserH5493 →
כַּ֙עַס֙vexation
kaasH3708 →25 times
מִלִּבֶּ֔ךָfrom heart your
milibekhaH3820 →595 times
וְהַעֲבֵ֥רand put away
vehaaverH5674 →
רָעָ֖הevil
raahH7451 →662 times
מִבְּשָׂרֶ֑ךָfrom flesh your
mibesarekhaH1320 →270 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הַיַּלְד֥וּת<the> youth
haiyaldutH3208 →
וְהַֽשַּׁחֲר֖וּתand the black hair
vehashacharutH7839 →
הָֽבֶל׃[are] futility
havelH1892 →73 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Timothy 2:22Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Peter 3:11
He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it.
- 1 Peter 2:11
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:1Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:27
It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.
- Ecclesiastes 11:8
So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile.
- Psalms 71:17–18
O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.
- Lamentations 3:27
Through
2 Corinthians 7:1Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
it leads to
- 1 Thessalonians 4:7
For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.
- James 4:8
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Proverbs 8:13
To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 208:2; Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 11; Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIASTES 337:20; Ephrem the Syrian, Homily - On Admonition and Repentance; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.