Ecclesiastes 1:17
Verse 17 of 18. The 1st of 12 chapters in Ecclesiastes, in Poetry and Wisdom.
13And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
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Ecclesiastes 1:17 in the World English Bible
I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.Read Ecclesiastes 1:17 in the WEB
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:17
He applied his studies especially to that part of learning which is most serviceable to the conduct of human life, and consequently is the most valuable (v. 17): "I gave my heart to know the rules and dictates of wisdom, and how I might obtain it; and to know madness and folly, how I might prevent and cure it, to know the snares and insinuations of it, that I might avoid them, and guard against them, and discover its fallacies."…
Read Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:12–18: Vanity of Human Wisdom.
Pray Ecclesiastes 1:17 with someone reading it aloud.
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King James Version. Public domain. Set as prose throughout, including the poetry, because the text is published to us without its lines.