Ecclesiastes Chapter 2

From The Open Bible Project

2:1 I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.

• (a) Solomon makes this discourse with himself, as though he would try whether there was contentment in ease and pleasures.

2:2 I said of laughter, "It is foolishness;" and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?"

2:3 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.

• (b) Even though I gave myself to pleasures, yet I thought to keep wisdom and the fear of God in my heart, and govern my affairs by the same.

2:4 I made myself great works. I built myself houses. I planted myself vineyards.

2:5 I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.

2:6 I made myself pools of water, to water from it the forest where trees were reared.

2:7 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;

• (c) Meaning, of the servants or slaves which he had bought, so the children born in their servitude, were the masters.

2:8 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, and that of all sorts.

• (d) That is, whatever men take pleasure in.
• (e) Or, the most beautiful of the women that were taken in war, as in (Judges 5:30).

2:9 So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also remained with me.

• (f) For all this God did not take his gift of wisdom from me.

2:10 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.

• (g) This was the fruit of all my labour, a certain pleasure mixed with care, which he calls vanity in the next verse.

2:11 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.

2:12 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.

• (h) I thought to myself whether it was better to follow wisdom, or my own affections and pleasures, which he calls madness.

2:13 Then I saw that wisdom excels folly, as far as light excels darkness.

2:14 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.

• (i) Meaning, in this world.
• (k) For both die and are forgotten as in (Ecclesiastes 2:16) or they both alike have prosperity or adversity.

2:15 Then said I in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then said I in my heart that this also is vanity.

2:16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

• (l) Meaning, in this world.
• (m) He wonders that men forget a wise man, being dead, as soon as they do a fool.

2:17 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.

2:18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

2:19 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.

2:20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

• (n) That I might seek the true happiness which is in God.

2:21 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.

• (o) Among other griefs that was not the least, to leave that which he had gotten by great travail, to one who had taken no pain therefore and whom he know not whether he were a wise man or a fool.

2:22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

2:23 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.

2:24 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.

• (p) When man has all laboured, he can get no more than food and refreshing, yet he confesses also that this comes from God’s blessing, as in (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

2:25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

• (q) Meaning, to pleasures.

2:26 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.