Ecclesiastes 2:1 Parallel Translations

I thought to myself, "Now I want to experiment with pleasure and enjoy myself." But even this was pointless.(GOD'S WORD®)

KJV:

I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity.

ASV:

I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

BBE:

I said in my heart, I will give you joy for a test; so take your pleasure--but it was to no purpose.

DBY:

I said in my heart, Come now, I will try thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. But behold, this also is vanity.

ERV:

I SAID in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also was vanity.

JPS:

I said in my heart: 'Come now, I will try thee with mirth, and enjoy pleasure'; and, behold, this also was vanity.

WBS:

I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and behold, this also is vanity.

WEB:

I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth: therefore enjoy pleasure;" and behold, this also was vanity.

YLT:

I said in my heart, 'Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:1 Cross References

XREF:

Ecclesiastes 7:4 The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. (NASB ©1995)

Commentaries and Concordances

GSB:

2:1 I said in my heart, Come now, I will tempt {a} thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity.
(a) Solomon makes this discourse with himself, as though he would try whether there was contentment in ease and pleasures.

WES:

2:1 I said - Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. Go to - O my soul! I will try whether I cannot make thee happy, by the enjoyment of sensual delights. Vanity - Is vain, and unable to make men happy.

MHC:

2:1-11 Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their changing from one thing to another, are like the restlessness of a man in a fever. Perceiving it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the costly amusements of princes. The poor, when they read such a description, are ready to feel discontent. But the remedy against all such feelings is in the estimate of it all by the owner himself. All was vanity and vexation of spirit: and the same things would yield the same result to us, as to Solomon. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. His wisdom remained with him; a strong understanding, with great human knowledge. But every earthly pleasure, when unconnected with better blessings, leaves the mind as eager and unsatisfied as before. Happiness arises not from the situation in which we are placed. It is only through Jesus Christ that final blessedness can be attained.

CONC:

Behold Enjoy Futility Gladness Heart Joy Meaningless Mirth Myself Pleasure Prove Proved Purpose Test Try Vanity

Enjoy Find Futility Gladness Good Heart Joy Meaningless Mirth Pleasure Prove Proved Purpose Test Thought Try Vanity

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GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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