Ecclesiastes 2:1

I said in my heart, 'Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it [is] vanity.

Young's Literal Translation

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

2Of laughter I said, 'Foolish!' and of mirth, 'What [is] this it is doing?'

Read all of Ecclesiastes 2

Cross References

Genesis 11:7Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.'

Psalms 10:6He hath said in his heart, 'I am not moved,' To generation and generation not in evil.

Psalms 27:8To Thee said my heart 'They sought my face, Thy face, O Jehovah, I seek.'

Ecclesiastes 1:16I — I spake with my heart, saying, 'I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge.

Ecclesiastes 2:15and I said in my heart, 'As it happeneth with the fool, it happeneth also with me, and why am I then more wise?' And I spake in my heart, that also this [is] vanity:

Ecclesiastes 3:17I said in my heart, 'The righteous and the wicked doth God judge, for a time [is] to every matter and for every work there.'

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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