Canticum Canticorum 1:17

Nova Vulgata

Dedique cor meum, ut scirem sapientiam et scientiam, insipientiam et stultitiam. Et agnovi quod in his quoque esset afflictio spiritus, eo quod

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
Frustra autem jacitur rete ante oculos pennatorum.

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
Dedique cor meum ut scirem prudentiam atque doctrinam,
erroresque et stultitiam;
et agnovi quod in his quoque esset labor et afflictio spiritus:

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I gave: Ecclesiastes 1:13, Ecclesiastes 2:3, Ecclesiastes 2:12, Ecclesiastes 7:23-25, 1 Thessalonians 5:21

I perceived: Ecclesiastes 2:10, Ecclesiastes 2:11

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 1:14 - General Ecclesiastes 5:10 - this Ecclesiastes 6:11 - General Ecclesiastes 9:1 - considered in my heart Ecclesiastes 9:3 - and madness

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And I gave my heart to know wisdom,.... Which is repeated, for the confirmation of it, from Ecclesiastes 1:13, and that it might be taken notice of how assiduous and diligent he had been in acquiring it; a circumstance not to be overlooked;

and to know madness and folly: that he might the better know wisdom, and learn the difference between the one and the other, since opposites illustrate each other; and that he might shun madness and folly, and the ways thereof, and expose the actions of mad and foolish men: so Plato s says, ignorance is a disease, of which there are two kinds, madness and folly. The Targum, Septuagint, and all the Oriental versions, interpret the last word, translated "folly", by understanding, knowledge, and prudence; which seems to be right, since Solomon speaks of nothing afterwards, as vexation and grief to him, but wisdom and knowledge: and I would therefore read the clause in connection with the preceding, thus, "and the knowledge of things boasted of", vain glorious knowledge; "and prudence", or what may be called craftiness and cunning; or what the apostle calls "science falsely so called", 1 Timothy 6:20; see Proverbs 12:8;

I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit;

Proverbs 12:8- :; the reason follows.

s In Timaeo, p. 1084.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To know madness and folly - A knowledge of folly would help him to discern wisdom, and to exercise that chief function of practical wisdom - to avoid folly.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. To know madness and folly — הוללות ושכלות holloth vesichluth. Παραβολας και επιστημην, "Parables and science." - Septuagint. So the Syriac; nearly so the Arabic.

"What were error and foolishness." - Coverdale. Perhaps gayety and sobriety may be the better meaning for these two difficult words. I can scarcely think they are taken in that bad sense in which our translation exhibits them. "I tried pleasure in all its forms; and sobriety and self-abnegation to their utmost extent." Choheleth paraphrases, "Even fools and madmen taught me rules."