Ecclesiastes 2:17-3:22 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

Business is a thing that wise men have pleasure in. They are in their element when they are in their business, and complain if they be out of business. They may sometimes be tired with their business, but they are not weary of it, nor willing to leave it off. Here therefore one would expect to have found the good that men should do, but Solomon tried this too; after a contemplative life and a voluptuous life, he betook himself to an active life, and found no more satisfaction in it than in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore I hated life ,.... Not strictly and simply understood, since life is the gift of God; and a great blessing it is, more than raiment, and so dear to a man, that he will give all he has for it: but comparatively, in comparison of the lovingkindness of God, which is better than life; or in comparison of eternal life, which a good man desires to depart from this world, for the sake of enjoying it. The sense seems to be this, that since the case of wise men and fools was equal, he had... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore I hated life - החיים את et hachaiyim , the lives, both of the wise, the mad man, and the fool. Also all the stages of life, the child, the man, and the sage. There was nothing in it worth pursuing, no period worth re-living and no hope that if this were possible I could again be more successful. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

Section 3. Vanity of wisdom, in view of the fate that awaits the wise man equally with the fool, and the uncertainty of the future of his labors, especially as man is not master of his own fate. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore I hated life; et idcirce taeduit me vitae meae . Be a man wise or foolish, his life leads only to one end and is soon forgotten; hence life itself is burdensome and hateful. The bitter complaint of Job ( Job 3:20 , etc.; Job 6:8 , Job 6:9 ) is here echoed, though the words do not point to suicide as the solution of the riddle. It is the ennui and unprofitableness of all life and action in view of the inevitable conclusion, which is here lamented. Because the work that... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:12-26

Solomon having found that wisdom and folly agree in being subject to vanity, now contrasts one with the other Ecclesiastes 2:13. Both are brought under vanity by events Ecclesiastes 2:14 which come on the wise man and the feel alike from without - death and oblivion Ecclesiastes 2:16, uncertainty Ecclesiastes 2:19, disappointment Ecclesiastes 2:21 - all happening by an external law beyond human control. Amidst this vanity, the good (see Ecclesiastes 2:10 note) that accrues to man, is the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ecclesiastes 2:17-19

Ecclesiastes 2:17-19. Therefore I hated life My life, though accompanied with so much honour, and pleasure, and wisdom, was a burden to me, and I was ready to wish, either that I had never been born, or that I might speedily die; because the work, &c., is grievous All human designs and works are so far from yielding me satisfaction, that the consideration of them increases my discontent. I hated all my labour All these riches and buildings, and other fruits of my labour, were... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 2:1-26

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 2:17

life. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Subject) for the pleasure enjoyed in it. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ecclesiastes 2:17

Ecclesiastes 2:17. Therefore I hated life— From the 12th to this verse, we have a review of the second proof; first, with respect to wisdom. The more one compares together wisdom or knowledge, and ignorance, which no one can be better qualified to do than king Solomon was, or perform with more exactness; the more it appears that the former has by much the advantage of the latter; Ecclesiastes 2:12-13.: yet that advantage does not reach so far as to establish a visible inequality of happiness... read more