I said in my heart, Come now, I will tempt (a) thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity. (a) Solomon makes this discourse with himself, as though he would try whether there was contentment in ease and pleasures.... [ Continue Reading ]
I sought in my heart to give myself to wine, yet acquainting my heart with (b) wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. (b) Even though I gave myself to pleasures, yet I thought to... [ Continue Reading ]
I procured [me] male and female servants, and had servants born in my (c) house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks above all that were in Jerusalem before me: (c) Meaning, of the servants or slaves which he had bought, so the children born in their servitude, were the masters.... [ Continue Reading ]
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the special treasure of kings and of the provinces: I procured me male and female singers, and the (d) delights of the sons of men, (e) [as] musical instruments, and of all sorts. (d) That is, whatever men take pleasure in. (e) Or, the most beautiful of the... [ Continue Reading ]
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom (f) remained with me. (f) For all this God did not take his gift of wisdom from me.... [ Continue Reading ]
And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my (g) portion of all my labour. (g) This was the fruit of all my labour, a certain pleasure mixed with care, which he calls vanity in the next verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
And I turned myself to behold (h) wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what [can] the man [do] that cometh after the king? [even] that which hath been already done. (h) I thought to myself whether it was better to follow wisdom, or my own affections and pleasures, which he calls madness.... [ Continue Reading ]
The wise man's (i) eyes [are] in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one (k) event happeneth 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.... [ Continue Reading ]
For [there is] no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool (l) for ever; seeing that which now [is] in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And (m) how dieth the wise [man]? as the fool. (l) Meaning, in this world. (m) He wonders that men forget a wise man, being dead, as soon as they do... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore I went about to cause my heart (n) to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. (n) That I might seek the true happiness which is in God.... [ Continue Reading ]
For there is a man whose labour [is] in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured in it shall he (o) leave it [for] his portion. 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 trava... [ Continue Reading ]
[There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should (p) make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] 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... [ Continue Reading ]
For who can eat, or who else can hasten (q) [to it], more than I? (q) Meaning, to pleasures.... [ Continue Reading ]