1 The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, king of Jerusalem.
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VERS. 1.-- *The words of Ecclesiastes.* Solomon was called by three names, etc. *as far as* and he is an equal master, and knows not that he is king. The Hebrews hand down that this book is Solomon's, as of one doing penance, because, trusting in wisdom and in riches, he offended God through women. For he reckoned within himself that all things are vain, and that those who put their hope in them come to misery. Allegorically. The peaceable and beloved Son of God the Father, etc., *as far as* whence: *Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth: and their words unto the ends of the world*. VERS. 2. *Vanity of vanities.* For *vanity of vanities*, according to certain interpreters, we can say, etc., *as far as* until that come which is perfect. Before he sets down his own statement, he seems to make a kind of preparation and adornment, when he says: *Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.* Afterwards he begins from the greater, that is, from man, showing him subject to vanity, that is, to mutability. And this is, *vanity,* etc. Every man living is vanity: how much more the rest! Whence, *The creature is made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who,* etc. For whatever is able not to be can be called vanity, because it is able to be changed. God alone is always the same that he is. But that which is changed in some manner vanishes away, and is not what it was; in comparison with the Creator, every creature can be called vanity and be reckoned as it were nothing. If all the things which God made, etc., *as far as* I am compelled to say not once, but twice, *Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.*
2 Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all is vanity.
3 What hath a man more of all his labour, that he taketh under the sun?
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VERS. 3.-- *What hath a man more.* After the general statement, etc., *as far as* but they return naked into the earth, whence they were taken.
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.
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VERS. 4.-- *One generation passeth away,* etc.. The generation of the Jews departs first, etc., *as far as* but we praise God not in one age, but unto ages of ages.
5 The sun riseth, and goeth down, and returneth to his place: and there rising again,
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VERS. 5.-- *The sun riseth and goeth down.* The sun itself, etc., *as far as* who rises for the believer, sets for the unbeliever.
6 Maketh his round by the south, and turneth again to the north: the spirit goeth forward surveying all places round about, and returneth to his circuits.
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VERS. 6.-- *It goeth to the south,* etc. Hence we can reckon, etc., *as far as* and so it returns to the east. *The spirit goeth forward in a circuit.* He calls the sun itself spirit, etc., *as far as* cold would consume the others.
7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea doth not overflow: unto the place from whence the rivers come, they return, to flow again.
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VERS. 7.-- *All the rivers run into the sea.* The philosophers say that the sweet waters which flow into the sea are either consumed by the burning sun, or are food for the saltness of the sea. But our Ecclesiastes, and the Maker of those waters themselves, says that they return through the hidden veins of the earth to the heads of the springs, and out of the mother deep boil up ever into their own beginnings. We can understand by the rivers, and by the sea, the human race, which returns into the earth whence it was taken, according to that: *Earth thou art, and into earth thou shalt go*. Nor is the earth filled with the multitude of the dead. And Jerome says torrents, not rivers, because they pass quickly. All the torrents, etc., *as far as* as in the Proverbs the daughters of the horseleech.
8 All things are hard: man cannot explain them by word. The eye is not filled with seeing, neither is the ear filled with hearing.
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VERS. 8.-- *All things are hard.* Man cannot unfold the causes and the natures of things, nor can the eye behold them to the full, nor can the ear, a teacher instructing it, arrive at the highest knowledge. *For we see now through a glass in a dark manner and in part, until that come which is perfect*, which cannot be in this mortal body. This statement is against those who think that they know the Holy Scriptures without labour and without the study of speaking, and [think] themselves wise, when they are unwise.
9 What is it that hath been? the same thing that shall be. What is it that hath been done? the same that shall be done.
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VERS. 9.-- *What is it that.* He seems to speak of these, etc., *as far as* that God might rest from all his works on the seventh day. *What is it that,* etc. Of the natures created in the beginning of the world, and of their succession, how they come and pass away; as a man dies, a man is born, and the nature of the one being born is the same which was the nature of the one dying. So of birds, fishes, serpents and all living things; so of herbs, trees and other natures nothing new is found which was not before: nothing past which is not done afterwards. Whence, *God rested on the seventh day from all his work*, from the creation of new natures, not from the governing of them, according to that: *My Father worketh until now, and I work*. So from the primordial seeds of things the time of the whole age is carried through by a natural course.
10 Nothing under the sun is new, neither is any man able to say: Behold this is new: for it hath already gone before in the ages that were before us.
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VERS. 10.-- *Nor is any man able,* etc. *Is there a word,* etc., *as far as* and by the predestination of God those things are already done which are to be. *For it hath already gone before.* As oblivion hides the things past which once were among us, so those who are to be born will not be able to know the things which are now done; for they will perish in silence, and, as though they had not been, will be hidden. For vanity of vanities and all is vanity, because all things pass away after the manner of flowing water, and will not return. To which statement the whole world cries assent, and most of all the human race.
11 There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end.
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VERS. 11.-- *There is no remembrance of former things.* The Seraphim therefore, etc., *as far as* whence afterwards, *There is no remembrance for the wise man with the fool for ever.*
12 I Ecclesiastes was king over Israel in Jerusalem,
13 And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein.
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VERS. 13.-- *And I proposed in my mind,* etc. Ecclesiastes therefore proposed, etc., *as far as* which they incurred of their own accord. Thus far generally concerning the vanities of the age: from here he returns to himself, and shows who he was, how he came to know all things, and how he taught them, whence: *And I proposed in my mind,* and the rest. *This occupation.* The word *anian* Aquila, the LXX and Theodotion [render] περισπασμὸν, which in Latin is *distensio,* etc., *as far as* all things are referred to the higher sense.
14 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold all is vanity, and vexation of spirit.
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VERS. 14.-- *I saw,* etc. I considered all worldly things, and saw that there is vanity and malice, that is, the miseries of the spirit, by which the mind, wearied with diverse thoughts, labours to know that which is not granted to man. The word *Routh* Aquila and Theodotion, etc., *as far as* by which the soul is afflicted with diverse thoughts.
15 The perverse are hard to be corrected, and the number of fools is infinite.
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VERS. 15.-- *The perverse.* The perverse man will not be able to be adorned, etc., *as far as* that it cannot be comprehended.
16 I have spoken in my heart, saying: Behold I am become great, and have gone beyond all in wisdom, that were before me in Jerusalem: and my mind hath contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned.
17 And I have given my heart to know prudence, and learning, and errors, and folly: and I have perceived that in these also there was labour, and vexation of spirit,
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VERS. 17.-- *And errors and the foolish.* The first wisdom is to have been without folly, etc., *as far as* let it suffice to have discoursed above.
18 Because in much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.