Ecclesiastes 2:8-10

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

⁸I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for myself men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men—^[a]concubines very many.^(A)

⁹So I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and stood by me.

¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion and reward for all my toil.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 2:8 Solomon’s reign began under most promising conditions: he “loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father... All Israel... feared the king [Solomon], for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment” (I Kings 3:3, 28 kjv). But soon his own “wisdom” alone was guiding him. He openly affronted God by taking many wives, including even heathen women. They seduced him into tolerating and even practicing idolatry (I Kings 11:1ff.).