Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, May 17th, 2025
the Fourth Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Ecclesiastes 2:5

I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Agriculture;   Botanical Gardens;   Epicureans;   Investigation;   Pleasure;   Solomon;   Vanity;   Wisdom;   Worldliness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Agriculture;   Agriculture-Horticulture;   Gardens;   Irrigation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Fruits;   Gardens;   Trees;   Vanity;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes;   Gardens;   Paradise;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Joy;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Paradise;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Forest;   Solomon;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bethlehem;   Ecclesiastes, the Book of;   Garden;   Paradise;   Solomon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Garden;   Israel, History of;   Jewels, Jewelry;   Joy;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Ecclesiastes;   Forest;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Winter ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Paradise;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher;   Forest;   Garden;   Irrigation;   Mad;   Orchard;   Paradise;   Park;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Demonology;   Horticulture;   Ḳohelet (Ecclesiastes) Rabbah;   Paradise;   Solomon;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for October 1;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.
Hebrew Names Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
King James Version
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:
English Standard Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
New American Standard Bible
I made gardens and parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
New Century Version
I made gardens and parks, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
Amplified Bible
I made gardens and orchards for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
World English Bible
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I haue made me gardens and orchards, and planted in them trees of all fruite.
Legacy Standard Bible
I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;
Berean Standard Bible
I made myself gardens and parks and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
Contemporary English Version
I had flower gardens and orchards full of fruit trees.
Complete Jewish Bible
and made myself gardens and parks; in them I planted all kinds of fruit trees.
Darby Translation
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of every kind of fruit;
Easy-to-Read Version
I planted gardens, and I made parks. I planted all kinds of fruit trees.
George Lamsa Translation
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them trees of all kinds of fruit;
Good News Translation
I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them;
Lexham English Bible
I made for myself gardens and parks, and I planted all sorts of fruit trees in them.
Literal Translation
I made gardens and parks for myself; and I planted trees in them of every fruit;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I made me ortchardes and gardens of pleasure, and planted trees in them of all maner frutes.
American Standard Version
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
Bible in Basic English
I made myself gardens and fruit gardens, planting in them fruit-trees of all sorts.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
King James Version (1611)
I made mee gardens & orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kinde of fruits.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I made me orchardes and gardens of pleasure, and planted trees in them of all maner of fruites.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I made me gardens and orchards, and planted in them every kind of fruit-tree.
English Revised Version
I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y settide tho with the trees of al kynde;
Update Bible Version
I made myself gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit;
Webster's Bible Translation
I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits:
New English Translation
I designed royal gardens and parks for myself, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
New King James Version
I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them.
New Living Translation
I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees.
New Life Bible
I made gardens and beautiful places for myself, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
New Revised Standard
I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I made me gardens, and parks, - I planted in them trees of every kind of fruit;
Douay-Rheims Bible
I made gardens, and orchards, and set them with trees of all kinds,
Young's Literal Translation
I made for me gardens and paradises, and I planted in them trees of every fruit.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

Contextual Overview

1 I said to myself, "Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. 2 I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" 3 I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine--my mind still guiding me with wisdom--and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven during the few days of their life. 4 I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; 5 I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. 6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. 8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, man's delight. 9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. 10 And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

me: Song of Solomon 4:12-16, Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 6:2, Jeremiah 39:4

I planted: Genesis 2:8, Genesis 2:9, Luke 17:27-29

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 7:1 - thirteen years 1 Kings 21:2 - a garden of herbs Song of Solomon 4:13 - are

Cross-References

Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground the LORD God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
Genesis 2:12
and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
Genesis 3:23
therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
Genesis 4:2
And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 4:12
When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."
Job 5:10
he gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields;
Psalms 104:14
Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth,
Psalms 135:7
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
Jeremiah 14:22
Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Art thou not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on thee, for thou doest all these things.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I made me gardens and orchards,.... Of the king's garden, we read Jeremiah 39:4. Adrichomius b makes mention of a royal garden in the suburbs of Jerusalem, fenced with walls; and was a paradise of fruit trees, herbs, spices, and flowers; abounded with all kind of fruit, exceeding pleasant and delightful to the senses: and, as Solomon was so great a botanist, and knew the nature and use of all kinds of trees and herbs, 1 Kings 4:33; no doubt but he has a herbal garden, well stocked with everything of that kind, curious and useful; see 1 Kings 21:2. Gardens are made for pleasure as well as profit; Adam, as soon as created, was put into a garden, to add to his natural pleasure and felicity, as well as for his employment, Genesis 2:8; and the pleasure of walking in a garden, and partaking of the fruits of it, are alluded to by Solomon, Song of Solomon 4:12;

and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits; which, as before observed, he had thorough knowledge of, and many of which were brought him from foreign parts; and all served to make his gardens, orchards, parks, forests, and enclosures, very pleasant and delectable. The Targum adds,

"some for food, others for drink, and others for medicine.''

b Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 170.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Orchards - literally, “paradises,” i. e., parks or pleasure-grounds (compare Nehemiah 2:8 note). Indications of at least three of these have been pointed out; one at Jerusalem near the pool of Siloam, called “the king’s garden” Nehemiah 3:15; Jeremiah 52:7; a second near Bethlehem (compare Ecclesiastes 2:6); and a third in the remote north, on the heights of Hermon Song of Solomon 4:8; Song of Solomon 8:11.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 2:5. I made me gardens and orchards — פרדסים pardesim, "paradises." I doubt much whether this be an original Hebrew word. [Arabic] ferdoos, is found in the Persian and Arabic; and signifies a pleasant garden, a vineyard. Hence our word paradise, a place full of delights. How well Solomon was qualified to form gardens, orchards, vineyards, conservatories, c., may be at once conceived when we recollect his knowledge of natural history and that he wrote treatises on vegetables and their properties, from the cedar to the hyssop.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile