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Read the Bible

New King James Version

Ecclesiastes 2:5

I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agriculture;   Botanical Gardens;   Epicureans;   Investigation;   Pleasure;   Solomon;   Vanity;   Wisdom;   Worldliness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Gardens;   Irrigation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fruits;   Gardens;   Trees;   Vanity;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes;   Gardens;   Paradise;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Joy;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Paradise;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Forest;   Solomon;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bethlehem;   Ecclesiastes, the Book of;   Garden;   Paradise;   Solomon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Garden;   Israel, History of;   Jewels, Jewelry;   Joy;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;   Forest;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Winter ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Paradise;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher;   Forest;   Garden;   Irrigation;   Mad;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Park;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Demonology;   Horticulture;   Ḳohelet (Ecclesiastes) Rabbah;   Paradise;   Solomon;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for October 1;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.
Hebrew Names Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
King James Version
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
English Standard Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
New American Standard Bible
I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
New Century Version
I made gardens and parks, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
Amplified Bible
I made gardens and orchards for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
World English Bible
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I haue made me gardens and orchards, and planted in them trees of all fruite.
Legacy Standard Bible
I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
Berean Standard Bible
I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
Contemporary English Version
I had flower gardens and orchards full of fruit trees.
Complete Jewish Bible
and made myself gardens and parks; in them I planted all kinds of fruit trees.
Darby Translation
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of every kind of fruit;
Easy-to-Read Version
I planted gardens, and I made parks. I planted all kinds of fruit trees.
George Lamsa Translation
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them trees of all kinds of fruit;
Good News Translation
I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them;
Lexham English Bible
I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all sorts of fruit trees in them.
Literal Translation
I made gardens and parks for myself; and I planted trees in them of every fruit;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I made me ortchardes and gardens of pleasure, and planted trees in them of all maner frutes.
American Standard Version
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
Bible in Basic English
I made myself gardens and fruit gardens, planting in them fruit-trees of all sorts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
King James Version (1611)
I made mee gardens & orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinde of fruits.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I made me orchardes and gardens of pleasure, and planted trees in them of all maner of fruites.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I made me gardens and orchards, and planted in them every kind of fruit-tree.
English Revised Version
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y settide tho with the trees of al kynde;
Update Bible Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
Webster's Bible Translation
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits:
New English Translation
I designed royal gardens and parks for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
New Living Translation
I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.
New Life Bible
I made gardens and beautiful places for myself, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
New Revised Standard
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I made me gardens, and parks, - I planted in them trees of every kind of fruit;
Douay-Rheims Bible
I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds,
Revised Standard Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
Young's Literal Translation
I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

Contextual Overview

1 1 Kings 4:20-28">[xr] I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter--"Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" 3 I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. 4 I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. 5 I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. 7 I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments [fn] of all kinds. 9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

me: Song of Solomon 4:12-16, Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 6:2, Jeremiah 39:4

I planted: Genesis 2:8, Genesis 2:9, Luke 17:27-29

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:1 - thirteen years 1 Kings 21:2 - a garden of herbs Song of Solomon 4:13 - are

Cross-References

Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:12
And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.
Genesis 3:23
therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
Genesis 4:2
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 4:12
When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."
Job 5:10
He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields.
Psalms 104:14
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That he may bring forth food from the earth,
Psalms 135:7
He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries.
Jeremiah 14:22
Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for You, Since You have made all these.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I made me gardens and orchards,.... Of the king's garden, we read Jeremiah 39:4. Adrichomius b makes mention of a royal garden in the suburbs of Jerusalem, fenced with walls; and was a paradise of fruit trees, herbs, spices, and flowers; abounded with all kind of fruit, exceeding pleasant and delightful to the senses: and, as Solomon was so great a botanist, and knew the nature and use of all kinds of trees and herbs, 1 Kings 4:33; no doubt but he has a herbal garden, well stocked with everything of that kind, curious and useful; see 1 Kings 21:2. Gardens are made for pleasure as well as profit; Adam, as soon as created, was put into a garden, to add to his natural pleasure and felicity, as well as for his employment, Genesis 2:8; and the pleasure of walking in a garden, and partaking of the fruits of it, are alluded to by Solomon, Song of Solomon 4:12;

and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits; which, as before observed, he had thorough knowledge of, and many of which were brought him from foreign parts; and all served to make his gardens, orchards, parks, forests, and enclosures, very pleasant and delectable. The Targum adds,

"some for food, others for drink, and others for medicine.''

b Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 170.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Orchards - literally, “paradises,” i. e., parks or pleasure-grounds (compare Nehemiah 2:8 note). Indications of at least three of these have been pointed out; one at Jerusalem near the pool of Siloam, called “the king’s garden” Nehemiah 3:15; Jeremiah 52:7; a second near Bethlehem (compare Ecclesiastes 2:6); and a third in the remote north, on the heights of Hermon Song of Solomon 4:8; Song of Solomon 8:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:5. I made me gardens and orchards — פרדסים pardesim, "paradises." I doubt much whether this be an original Hebrew word. [Arabic] ferdoos, is found in the Persian and Arabic; and signifies a pleasant garden, a vineyard. Hence our word paradise, a place full of delights. How well Solomon was qualified to form gardens, orchards, vineyards, conservatories, c., may be at once conceived when we recollect his knowledge of natural history and that he wrote treatises on vegetables and their properties, from the cedar to the hyssop.


 
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