ä¼ é“ä¹¦ 2:1

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

財富享樂都是虛空我自己心裡說：“來吧，我用享樂試試你，讓你看看有甚麼好處。”想不到，這也是虛空。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
我 心 里 说 ： 来 罢 ， 我 以 喜 乐 试 试 你 ， 你 好 享 福 ！ 谁 知 ， 这 也 是 虚 空 。

Contextual Overview

¹ I said to myself, "I will try having fun. I will enjoy myself." But I found that this is also useless. ² It is foolish to laugh all the time, and having fun doesn't accomplish anything. ³ I decided to cheer myself up with wine while my mind was still thinking wisely. I wanted to find a way to enjoy myself and see what was good for people to do during their few days of life. ⁴ Then I did great things: I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. ⁵ I made gardens and parks, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made pools of water for myself and used them to water my growing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and slaves were also born in my house. I had large herds and flocks, more than anyone in Jerusalem had ever had before. ⁸ I also gathered silver and gold for myself, treasures from kings and other areas. I had male and female singers and all the women a man could ever want. ⁹ I became very famous, even greater than anyone who had lived in Jerusalem before me. My wisdom helped me in all this. ¹⁰ Anything I saw and wanted, I got for myself; I did not miss any pleasure I desired. I was pleased with everything I did, and this pleasure was the reward for all my hard work.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

said: Ecclesiastes 2:15, Ecclesiastes 1:16, Ecclesiastes 1:17, Ecclesiastes 3:17, Ecclesiastes 3:18, Psalms 10:6, Psalms 14:1, Psalms 27:8, Psalms 30:6, Psalms 30:7, Luke 12:19

Go to: Genesis 11:3, Genesis 11:4, Genesis 11:7, 2 Kings 5:5, Isaiah 5:5, James 4:13, James 5:1

I will: Ecclesiastes 8:15, Ecclesiastes 11:9, Isaiah 50:5, Isaiah 50:11, Luke 16:19, Luke 16:23, James 5:5, Titus 3:3, Revelation 18:7, Revelation 18:8

Reciprocal: Psalms 127:2 - vain Ecclesiastes 2:25 - who can Ecclesiastes 7:25 - I applied mine heart Ecclesiastes 10:19 - feast Ecclesiastes 11:8 - All that

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the sky and the earth.

Genesis 1:10
God named the dry land "earth" and the water that was gathered together "seas." God saw that this was good.

Genesis 2:3
God blessed the seventh day and made it a holy day, because on that day he rested from all the work he had done in creating the world.

Genesis 2:4
This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God first made the earth and the sky,

Genesis 2:5
there were still no plants on the earth. Nothing was growing in the fields because the Lord God had not yet made it rain on the land. And there was no person to care for the ground,

Genesis 2:8
Then the Lord God planted a garden in the east, in a place called Eden, and put the man he had formed into it.

Genesis 2:11
The first river, named Pishon, flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Genesis 2:13
The second river, named Gihon, flows around the whole land of Cush.

Exodus 20:11
The reason is that in six days the Lord made everything—the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. On the seventh day he rested. So the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 31:17
The Sabbath day will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, because in six days I, the Lord , made the sky and the earth. On the seventh day I did not work; I rested.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I said in mine heart,.... He communed with his heart, he thought and reasoned within himself, and came to this resolution in his own mind; that since he could not find happiness in natural wisdom and knowledge, he would seek for it elsewhere, even in pleasure; in which, he observed, some men placed their happiness; or, however, sought for it there: or, "I said to my heart", as the Syriac version;

Go to now; or, "go, I pray thee" u listen to what I am about to say, and pursue the track I shall now point out to thee;

I will prove thee with mirth; with those things which will cause mirth, joy, and pleasure; and try whether any happiness can be enjoyed this way, since it could not be had in wisdom and knowledge. Jarchi and Aben Ezra render it, "I will mingle", wine with water, or with spices; or, "I will pour out", wine in plenty to drink of, "with joy", and to promote mirth: but the Targum, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, interpret it as we do, and which sense Aben Ezra makes mention of;

therefore enjoy pleasure; which man is naturally a lover of; he was so in his state of innocency, and this was the bait that was laid for him, and by which he was drawn into sin; and now he loves, lives in, and serves sinful pleasures; which are rather imaginary than real, and last but for a season, and end in bitterness: but such sordid lusts and pleasures are not here meant; Solomon was too wise and good a man to give into these, as the "summum bonum"; or ever to think there could be any happiness in them, or even to make a trial of them for that purpose: not criminal pleasures, or an impure, sottish, and epicurean life, are here intended; but manly, rational, and lawful pleasures, for no other are mentioned in the detail of particulars following; and, in the pursuit of the whole, he was guided and governed by his wisdom, and that remained in him, Ecclesiastes 2:3. It may be rendered, "therefore see good" w; look upon all the good, pleasant, and delectable things of life; and enjoy them in such a manner as, if possible, happiness may be attained in them;

and, behold, this also [is] vanity; it will be found, by making the experiment, that there is no solid and substantial happiness in it, as it was by himself.

u לכה נא "age, quaeso", Tigurine version, Vatablus, Rambachius. w וראה בטוב "et vide in bonum", Montanus; "et vide bonum", Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius, Gejerus; "fraere bono", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Amama, Rambachius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Solomon’s trial of God’s second gift, namely, riches, and the enjoyment which riches supply; this brought him to the sane result (compare Ecclesiastes 1:12).

Comparing Solomon’s action with Luke 12:16-21, it must be remembered that Solomon’s object was the acquisition of wisdom, not self-indulgence, and that he did not fail to look forward to the certainty of death overtaking him.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER II

The vanity of human courses in the works of pleasure,

planting, equipage, amassing wealth, c., 1-11.

Wisdom preferable to folly, 12-14

yet little difference between the wise and the foolish in

the events of life, 15-17.

The vanity of amassing wealth for heirs, when whether they

will be foolish or wise cannot be ascertained, 18-21.

There is much sorrow in the labour of man, 22, 23.

We should enjoy what the providence of God gives, 25, 26.

NOTES ON CHAP. I

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:1. I will prove thee with mirth — This is well expressed by the author so often referred to. Having tried speculative knowledge in vain, passion and appetite whisper, -

"From the rugged thorny road

Of wisdom, which so ill repays thy toil,

Turn back, and enter pleasure's flowery paths.

Go, take thy fill of joy; to passion give

The reins; nor let one serious thought restrain

What youth and affluence prompt."