4I undertook great works; I built myself houses and planted vineyards;5I made gardens and parks, and in them set out fruit trees of all sorts.6And I constructed for myself reservoirs to water a flourishing woodland.7I acquired male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem.8I amassed for myself silver and gold, and the treasures of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and delights of men, many women.*9I accumulated much more than all others before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom, too, stayed with me.10Nothing that my eyes desired did I deny them, nor did I deprive myself of any joy; rather, my heart rejoiced in the fruit of all my toil. This was my share for all my toil.11a But when I turned to all the works that my hands had wrought, and to the fruit of the toil for which I had toiled so much, see! all was vanity and a chase after wind. There is no profit under the sun.
12What about one who succeeds a king? He can do only what has already been done.*
14Wise people have eyes in their heads,
but fools walk in darkness.
STUDY OF THE FRUITS OF TOIL
24* e There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and provide themselves with good things from their toil. Even this, I saw, is from the hand of God.
25For who can eat or drink apart from God?26* f For to the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the one who displeases, God gives the task of gathering possessions for the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
* [
2:1–
11] The author here assumes the role of Solomon who, as king, would have had the wealth and resources at his disposal to acquire wisdom and engage in pleasurable pursuits. Verses
4–
8 in particular, with their description of abundant wealth and physical gratifications, parallel the descriptions in
1 Kgs 4–
11 of the extravagances of Solomon’s reign.
* [
2:3]
Guided by wisdom: using all the means money can buy, the author sets out on a deliberate search to discover if pleasure constitutes true happiness.
* [
2:8]
Many women: the final phrase of this verse is difficult to translate. One word,
shiddah, which appears here in both singular and plural, is found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. A suggested meaning is “woman” or “concubine,” as it is interpreted here: “many women.” The rest of the section (
2:1–
12) seems to be a description of Solomon’s kingdom, and the “many women” would represent his huge harem (
1 Kgs 11:1–
3). In rabbinic Hebrew the word comes to mean “chest” or “coffer.”
* [
2:12]
What…been done: the verse is difficult and elliptical. The words “He can do only” have been added for clarity. The two halves of the verse have been reversed. The author argues that it is useless to repeat the royal experiment described in vv.
1–
11. The results would only be the same.
* [
2:14]
Yet I knew…befalls both: the author quotes a traditional saying upholding the advantages of wisdom, but then qualifies it. Nothing, not even wisdom itself, can give someone absolute control over their destiny and therefore guarantee any advantage.
* [
2:16]
The wise person dies: death, until now only alluded to (vv.
14–
15), takes center stage and will constantly appear in the author’s reflections through the remainder of the book.
* [
2:24–
26] The author is not advocating unrestrained indulgence. Rather he counsels acceptance of the good things God chooses to give. This is the first of seven similar conclusions that Qoheleth provides; see
3:12–
13,
22;
5:17–
18;
8:15;
9:7–
9;
11:9.
* [
2:26] According to
7:15 and
9:1–
3, God does not make an objective, evidential, moral distinction between saint and sinner. God “gives” as God pleases.
