Passage Research
Ecclesiastes 2 — Sermon Preparation
After testing pleasure, ambitious projects, and wisdom, the Teacher concludes that all human striving ends in emptiness. Below is a research summary for Ecclesiastes 2, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.
- 26
- verses
- 381 / 150
- Hebrew words / lemmas
- 3
- classic sermon excerpts
- 2
- preachers & commentators
Ecclesiastes 2 in the Hebrew
Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Strong's | Count | Glosses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָמָל | ʻâmâl | H5999 | 9 | toil, wearing effort |
| הֶבֶל | hebel | H1892 | 8 | emptiness, vanity |
| לֵב | lêb | H3820 | 10 | heart, feelings |
| אָדָם | ʼâdâm | H120 | 9 | ruddy, human being |
| שֶׁמֶשׁ | shemesh | H8121 | 6 | sun, east |
| חׇכְמָה | chokmâh | H2451 | 6 | wisdom |
| עָמַל | ʻâmal | H5998 | 4 | toil, work severely and with irksomeness |
How preachers through history handled this text
3 public-domain excerpts on Ecclesiastes 2, from the church fathers to the Puritans.
“II Solomon shews, that there is no true happiness to be had in mirth and the pleasures of sense, ver. 1-11. He considers wisdom again, and owns it to be an excellent thing, and yet insufficient to give happiness, ver. 12-16. He shews that business and wealth are only vanity and vexation of spirit, ver. 17-23. And that if there be any good therein, it is only to these who sit loose to them, ver. 24- 26. 1. I said - Being disappointed of my hopes from knowledge, I resolved to try another course. Go to - O my soul! …”
— John Wesley, Wesley's Notes on the Whole Bible, on Ecclesiastes 2:1–30 (Public Domain)
Places in the text
Based on ancient-geography data
- Jerusalem— Eccl 2:7
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