Ecclesiastes 2:1-17

2:1

<0559> [said.]

<03212> [Go to.]

self-indulgent <05254> [I will.]

2:2

said <0559> [I said.]

Solomon is not speaking here of sober enjoyment of the things of the world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and mirth, are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia, as two persons, whom he treats with the utmost contempt.

folly <01984> [It is.]

2:3

thought <08446> [sought.]

indulging .... wine ..... my <01320 03196 04900> [give myself unto wine. Heb. draw my flesh with wine. yet.]

behaving <0270> [and to lay.]

discover <07200> [till.]

few <04557> [all. Heb. the number of.]

2:4

increased <01431> [made.]

built <01129> [I builded.]

planted <05193> [I planted.]

2:5

gardens <01593> [me.]

planted <05193> [I planted.]

2:6

pools <01295> [pools.]

irrigate <08248> [to water.]

2:7

slaves ........ born <05650 01121> [servants.]

born <01121> [and had.]

slaves ........ born .... house <01004 05650 01121> [servants born in my house. Heb. sons of my house. also.]

2:8

silver <03701> [silver.]

singers .... singers <07891> [men singers.]

harem .... concubines <07705> [musical instruments, etc. Heb. musical instrument and instruments.]

The difficult words {shiddah weshiddoth} are variously rendered. The LXX. have [oinocoon kai oinochoas,] "male and female cup-bearers," with which the Syriac and Arabic and Parkhurst agree; Aquila, [kulikon kai kulikia,] "a cup and smaller cups;" Jerome, {scyphos et urceolos, (Vulg. {urceos,}) "goblets and pots;" Targum, "warm and cold baths;" others, as M. Desvoeux, "male and female captives;" others, "cooks and confectioners;" others, "a species of musical compositions," derived from Sido, a celebrated Phoenician woman, to whom Sanchoniatho attributes the invention of music; but others, with more probability, "wives and concubines;" and {siddoth} may be in this sense synonymous with the Arabic {seedat, domina, conjux} from {sada,} in {Conj. V. conjugium inivit.} Of the former, Solomon had three hundred, and of the latter, seven hundred; and if they are not mentioned here they are not mentioned at all, which is wholly unaccountable.

2:9

2:10

wanted <05869> [whatsoever.]

myself ........... accomplishments <08056 03820> [my heart rejoiced.]

2:11

reflected <06437> [I looked.]

ultimately profitless <01892> [behold.]

2:12

decided <06437> [I turned.]

[even that which hath already been done. or, in those things which have been already done.]

2:13

realized <07200> [I saw.]

wisdom is preferable ... folly <03426 02451 03504 05531> [that wisdom excelleth folly. Heb. that there is an excellency in wisdom more than in folly, etc. light.]

2:14

wise <02450> [wise.]

same <0259> [one.]

2:15

even <01571> [even to me. Heb. to me, even to me. and why.]

<01696> [Then I.]

2:16

remembered <02146> [there is.]

dies <04191> [how.]

2:17

loathed <08130> [I hated.]

happens <04639> [work.]

futile <01892> [for.]