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Ecclesiastes 2:2
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The Vanity of Pleasure

1 I said ain my heart, “Come now, I will test you with bmirth; therefore enjoy pleasure”; but surely, cthis also was vanity.  
2 I said of laughter—“Madness!”; and of mirth, “What does it accomplish?”
3 aI searched in my heart how1 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 bgood for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.  
4 I made my works great, I built myself ahouses, 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 to1 water the growing trees of the grove.  
7 I acquired male and female servants, and had1 servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me.  
8 aI 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, and1 musical instruments of all kinds.  
9 aSo I became great and1 excelled bmore 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 athis was my reward from all my labor. 
Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
<< Ecclesiastes 2:1   Ecclesiastes 2:3 >>


Ecclesiastes 2:2

I said of laughter, It is mad - Literally "To laughter I said, O mad one! and to mirth, What is this one doing?"

Solomon does not speak here of a sober enjoyment of the things of this world, but of intemperate pleasure, whose two attendants, laughter and mirth are introduced by a beautiful prosopopoeia as two persons; and the contemptuous manner wherewith he treats them has something remarkably striking. He tells the former to her face that she is mad; but as to the latter, he thinks her so much beneath his notice, that he only points at her, and instantly turns his back.


 
<< Ecclesiastes 2:1   Ecclesiastes 2:3 >>

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