Ecclesiastes 2:1

I said in my heart: 'Come now, I will try thee with mirth, and enjoy pleasure'; and, behold, this also was vanity.

JPS TaNaKH 1917

In The King James Version

I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

In Context

2I said of laughter: 'It is mad'; and of mirth: 'What doth it accomplish?'

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Cross References

Genesis 11:7Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.'

Psalms 10:6He saith in his heart: 'I shall not be moved, I who to all generations shall not be in adversity.'

Psalms 27:8In Thy behalf my heart hath said: 'Seek ye My face'; Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

Ecclesiastes 1:16I spoke with my own heart, saying: 'Lo, I have gotten great wisdom, more also than all that were before me over Jerusalem'; yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

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

Ecclesiastes 3:17I said in my heart: 'The righteous and the wicked God will judge; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.'

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 2:1

Solomon having pronounced all vanity, and particularly knowledge and learning, which he was so far from giving himself joy of that he found the increase of it did but increase his sorrow, in this chapter he goes on to show what reason he has to be tired of this world, and with what little reason most men are fond of it. I. He shows that there is no true happiness and satisfaction to be had in mirth and pleasure, and the delights of sense, ver. 1-11 . II. He reconsiders the pretensions of wisdom, and allows it to… Read the whole commentary →

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