Ecclesiastes 1:17 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 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, 1. By his own experience; he tried them all, and found them vanity. 2. By an induction of particulars; and here he begins with that which bids fairest of all to be the happiness of a reasonable creature, and that is knowledge and learning; if this be vanity, every thing else must needs be so. Now as to this, I. Solomon tells us here... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:17

And I gave my heart to know wisdom ,.... Which is repeated, for the confirmation of it, from Ecclesiastes 1:13 , and that it might be taken notice of how assiduous and diligent he had been in acquiring it; a circumstance not to be overlooked; and to know madness and folly : that he might the better know wisdom, and learn the difference between the one and the other, since opposites illustrate each other; and that he might shun madness and folly, and the ways thereof, and expose the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:17

To know madness and folly - ושכלות הוללות holloth vesichluth . Παραβολας και επιστημην , "Parables and science." - Septuagint. So the Syriac; nearly so the Arabic. "What were error and foolishness." - Coverdale. Perhaps gayety and sobriety may be the better meaning for these two difficult words. I can scarcely think they are taken in that bad sense in which our translation exhibits them. "I tried pleasure in all its forms; and sobriety and self-abnegation to their utmost extent."... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

Section 1. Vanity of striving for wisdom and knowledge. Esther 1:12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem . Koheleth relates his own experience as king, in accordance with his assumption of the person of Solomon. The use of the past tense in this verse is regarded by many as strong evidence against the Solomonic authorship of the book. "I have been king" (not "I have become king," as Gratz would translate) is a statement introducing the supposed speaker, not as a reigning... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:17

And I gave my heart . He reiterates the expression in order to emphasize his earnestness and energy in the pursuit of wisdom. And knowing, as St. Jerome says, that "contrariis contraria inteiliguntur," he studies the opposite of wisdom, and learns the truth by contrasting it with error. And to know madness and folly ( Ecclesiastes 2:12 ). The former word, holeloth (intensive plural), by its etymology points to a confusion of thought, i . e . an unwisdom which deranges all ideas... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:17

To know madness and folly - A knowledge of folly would help him to discern wisdom, and to exercise that chief function of practical wisdom - to avoid folly. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 1:16-17

Ecclesiastes 1:16-17. I communed with mine own heart I considered within myself in what condition I was, and what degrees of knowledge I had gained; and whether it was not my ignorance that made me unable to rectify those errors, and supply those wants of which I complain; and whether wiser men could not do it, though I could not; saying, Lo! I am come to great estate Hebrew, הגדלתי , I am grown great, namely, in wisdom, or, I have magnified, or greatly enlarged; and have gotten ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

Lessons from experience (1:12-2:26)Writing as Solomon, the author now looks back and describes the experiences of a truly wise and wealthy man who searched for a meaning to life. First he tried the study of wisdom, but it led only to misery and frustration. Some things could not be made to fit any sort of consistent pattern; others, which in theory may have solved some problems, in practice did not exist (12-15). His learning and experience enabled him to tell the difference between wisdom and... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ecclesiastes 1:17

madness = the opposite of wisdom, as displayed in the loss of self-control; raving with self-conceit. So elsewhere in this book. folly = infatuation. Hebrew. sakal. See note on- "wisdom", Proverbs 1:2 . vexation, &c. Not the same phrase in Hebrew as in Ecclesiastes 1:14 . read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:17

Ecclesiastes 1:17. And I gave my heart to know wisdom— For I applied myself to the knowledge of wisdom, and the knowledge of whatever is shining, and of science. We meet in all languages with words which are as much, or even more frequently, made use of in a metaphorical, than in a literal way; yet you can never fully and rightly understand them, unless you keep an eye to the primitive literal signification, and have a particular regard to the circumstances wherein such a word is employed. הלל... read more