| Geneva Study Bible And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know {l} madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. (l) That is, vain things, which served to pleasure, in which was no convenience, but grief and trouble of conscience. Wesley's Notes 1:17 To know - That I might throughly understand the nature and difference of truth and error, of virtue and vice. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 17. wisdom . madness-that is, their effects, the works of human wisdom and folly respectively. "Madness," literally, "vaunting extravagance"; Ec 2:12; 7:25, &c., support English Version rather than Dathe, "splendid matters." "Folly" is read by English Version with some manuscripts, instead of the present Hebrew text, "prudence." If Hebrew be retained, understand "prudence," falsely so called (1Ti 6:20), "craft" (Da 8:25). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 1:12-18 Solomon tried all things, and found them vanity. He found his searches after knowledge weariness, not only to the flesh, but to the mind. The more he saw of the works done under the sun, the more he saw their vanity; and the sight often vexed his spirit. He could neither gain that satisfaction to himself, nor do that good to others, which he expected. Even the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom discovered man's wickedness and misery; so that the more he knew, the more he saw cause to lament and mourn. Let us learn to hate and fear sin, the cause of all this vanity and misery; to value Christ; to seek rest in the knowledge, love, and service of the Saviour. | 
