Canticum Canticorum 1:13

Nova Vulgata

et proposui in animo meo quaerere et investigare sapienter de omnibus, quae fiunt sub sole. Hanc occupationem pessimam dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut occuparentur in ea.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
omnem pretiosam substantiam reperiemus ; implebimus domos nostras spoliis ;

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
et proposui in animo meo qu�rere et investigare sapienter
de omnibus qu� fiunt sub sole.
Hanc occupationem pessimam
dedit Deus filiis hominum, ut occuparentur in ea.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I gave: Ecclesiastes 1:17, Ecclesiastes 7:25, Ecclesiastes 8:9, Ecclesiastes 8:16, Ecclesiastes 8:17, Psalms 111:2, Proverbs 2:2-4, Proverbs 4:7, Proverbs 18:1, Proverbs 18:15, Proverbs 23:26, 1 Timothy 4:15

this sore: Ecclesiastes 3:10, Ecclesiastes 4:4, Ecclesiastes 12:12, Genesis 3:19

to be exercised: or, to afflict them

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:17 - cursed Judges 19:16 - his work 1 Kings 3:12 - I have given Job 28:3 - searcheth Psalms 78:33 - years Psalms 119:45 - for I seek Ecclesiastes 2:18 - I hated Ecclesiastes 4:8 - it is

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom,.... As he had all advantages and opportunities, so he did not want for industry and application to obtain knowledge; he gave his mind to it; he took up a resolution not to be discouraged by any difficulties, but to break through them, if possible; he set about the work with great readiness and cheerfulness; he had a price in his hand to get wisdom, and he had a heart unto it; see Proverbs 17:16; and he pursued it with all diligence, with all his might and main: nor did he content himself with a superficial knowledge of things; but "searched" after the most recondite and abstruse learning, and penetrated into the utmost recesses of it, to find out all that was to be known; and this he did "by" using all the "wisdom" and sagacity, the light and strength of reason, and all those bright natural parts, which God had given him in a very extraordinary manner. And his inquiry was very extensive; it was

concerning all [things] that are done under heaven; into the nature of all things, animate and inanimate; trees, herbs, plants, fossils, minerals, and metals; beasts, birds, fish, and all creeping things; see 1 Kings 4:33; with everything else in nature: he sought to make himself master of all arts and sciences; to get knowledge of all trades and manufactures; to understand everything in politics, relating to kingdoms and states, and the government of them; to observe all the actions of men, wise and foolish, that he might know the difference, and be a judge of what was right and wrong. And his observation upon the whole is,

this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men, to be exercised therewith: he found by experience it was a heavy task, which God had put upon the children of men, to get wisdom and knowledge in the way it was to be gotten; which was very burdensome and wearisome to the flesh; nay, he found it was an l "evil business", as it may be rendered; or there was something sinful and criminal, which God suffered men in their pursuit after knowledge to fall into, and which their studies exposed them to; as to indulge a vain and sinful curiosity, to pry into things unlawful, and to be wise above what is written; or to be too anxious in attaining natural knowledge, to the neglect of things of great importance; or to abuse or trust in knowledge attained unto, or be vainly elated and puffed up with it. Or this may be understood of the evil of punishment, which God inflicts on men for the sin of eating of the tree of knowledge; and that as he is doomed to get his bread, so his knowledge, with the sweat of his brow, that is, with great pains and labour; which otherwise would have been more easily obtained: but this God has done to "afflict" or "humble" m men, as the word may be rendered; to afflict or punish them for sin; and to humble them by showing them how weak are the powers and faculties of their minds, that so much pains must be taken to get a small share of knowledge. The Targum is,

"and I saw all the works of the children of men obnoxious to an evil business; the Lord gave to the children of men, to be afflicted with it.''

l ענין רע "occupationem malam", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Amama, Gejerus. m לענות "ad affligendum", Montanus, Gejerus "ut affligent se in ea", Vatablus, Rambachius; "ut ea humlies redderet", Tigurine version.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wisdom - As including both the powers of observation and judgment, and the knowledge acquired thereby (1 Kings 3:28; 1 Kings 4:29; 1 Kings 10:8, ...). It increases by exercise. Here is noted its application to people and their actions.

Travail - In the sense of toil; the word is here applied to all human occupations.

God - God is named as אלהים 'elohı̂ym thirty-nine times in this book; a name common to the true God and to false gods, and used by believers and by idolators: but the name Yahweh, by which He is known especially to the people who are in covenant with Him, is never once used.

Perhaps the chief reason for this is that the evil which is the object of inquiry in this book is not at all unique to the chosen people. All creation Romans 8:0 groans under it. The Preacher does not write of (or, to) the Hebrew race exclusively. There is no express and obvious reference to their national expectations, the events of their national history, or even to the divine oracles which were deposited with them. Hence, it was natural for the wisest and largest-hearted man of his race to take a wider range of observation than any other Hebrew writer before or after him. It became the sovereign of many peoples whose religions diverged more or less remotely from the true religion, to address himself to a more extensive sphere than that which was occupied by the twelve tribes, and to adapt his language accordingly. See the Ecclesiastes 5:1 note.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 13. And I gave my heart to seek and search — While Solomon was faithful to his God, he diligently cultivated his mind. His giving himself to the study of natural history, philosophy, poetry, c., are sufficient proofs of it. He had not intuitive knowledge from God but he had a capacity to obtain every kind of knowledge useful to man.

This sore travail — This is the way in which knowledge is to be acquired; and in order to investigate the operations of nature, the most laborious discussions and perplexing experiments must be instituted, and conducted to their proper results. It is God's determination that knowledge shall be acquired in no other way.