Ecclesiastes 2:3

(3) Sought.—The word translated “search out” (Ecclesiastes 1:13).

“Draw,” margin. There is no Biblical parallel for the use of the word in this sense. The general meaning is plain.

Acquainting.—Rather, guiding. The word is used of the driver of an animal or the shepherd of a flock (2 Samuel 6:3; Psalms 80:1; Isaiah 63:4). Kohéleth contemplated not an unrestrained enjoyment of pleasure, but one controlled by prudence.

All the days.—(See margin). This phrase occurs again in Ecclesiastes 5:17; Ecclesiastes 6:12. We have “men of number” in the sense of “few”—i.e., so few that they can be numbered (Genesis 34:30, and often elsewhere). So we may translate here “for their span of life.”