Ecclesiastes 1:17
And I give my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I have known that even this [is] distress of spirit;
Literal Standard Version
In The King James Version
In Context
18for in abundance of wisdom [is] abundance of sadness, and he who adds knowledge adds pain.”
Cross References
Psalms 73:16And I think to know this, || It [is] perverseness in my eyes,
Ecclesiastes 2:3I have sought in my heart to draw out with wine my appetite (and my heart leading in wisdom), and to take hold on folly until I see where this [is]—the good to the sons of man of that which they do under the heavens, the number of the days of their lives.
Ecclesiastes 2:11and I have looked on all my works that my hands have done, and on the labor that I have labored to do, and behold, the whole [is] vanity and distress of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun!
Ecclesiastes 3:19For an event [is to] the sons of man, and an event [is to] the beasts, even one event [is] to them; as the death of this, so [is] the death of that; and one spirit [is] to all, and the advantage of man above the beast is nothing, for the whole [is] vanity.
Ecclesiastes 6:9Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This [is] also vanity and distress of spirit.
Ecclesiastes 7:25I have turned around, also my heart, to know and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and reason, and to know the wrong of folly, and the madness of foolishness.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:13-18
Vanity of Human Wisdom. 12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am… Read the whole commentary →