13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes), then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't be able to find it.
I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
Be diligent in these things. Give yourself wholly to them, that your progress may be revealed to all.
Furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Yahweh's works are great, Pondered by all those who delight in them.
For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
My son, give me your heart; And let your eyes keep in my ways.
The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of Ecclesiastes
Chapter 1
In this chapter we have,
And, if this is vanity and vexation, all other things in this world, being much inferior to it in dignity and worth, must needs be so too. A great scholar cannot be happy unless he be a true saint.
Ecc 1:1-3
Here is,
Ecc 1:4-8
To prove the vanity of all things under the sun, and their insufficiency to make us happy, Solomon here shows,
Ecc 1:9-11
Two things we are apt to take a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction in, and value ourselves upon, with reference to our business and enjoyments in the world, as if they helped to save them from vanity. Solomon shows us our mistake in both.
Ecc 1:12-18
Solomon, having asserted in general that all is vanity, and having given some general proofs of it, now takes the most effectual method to evince the truth of it,