Ecclesiastes 2:8 · Bible study
Ecclesiastes 2:8 Commentary: The Delights of the Sons of Men
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Ecclesiastes 2:8: Solomon's wealth, singers, and pleasures. What did the 'delights of the sons of men' mean? A study on the critique of hedonism under the sun.
Research Summary
- Meaning: This verse catalogs Solomon's exhaustive pursuit of pleasure, setting up the thesis that all is vanity.
- Key words: 'Gathered' (kanas, a late Hebrew term for accumulation), 'treasure' (segullah, special possession), 'delights' (ta'anug, exquisite pleasure), 'shiddah' (ambiguous; likely concubine).
- Main debate: Does the final phrase refer to musical instruments or to concubines? The Hebrew word is a hapax legomenon, and ancient versions differ.
- Theological theme: The insufficiency of material and sensual pleasures to provide lasting meaning; the need for the fear of the Lord (12:13).
- Best use: As a case study in the folly of hedonism, leading to discussion of true satisfaction found in God.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
and I accumulated for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered to myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men—many concubines.
WEB World English Bible 2000
I also gathered silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got myself male and female singers, and the delights of the sons of men: musical instruments of all sorts.
KJV King James Version 1769
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I gat me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the sons of men, musical instruments, and that of all sorts.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
I gathered for me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces. I prepared for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of man--a wife and wives.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got me men-singers and women-singers, and the delights of the children of men, a wife and concubines.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
I heaped together for myself silver and gold, and the wealth of kings, and provinces: I made me singing men, and singing women, and the delights of the sons of men, cups and vessels to serve to pour out wine:
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Alleguéme también plata y oro, y tesoro preciado de reyes y de provincias; híceme de cantores y cantoras, y los deleites de los hijos de los hombres, instrumentos músicos y de todas suertes.
Também juntei para mim prata, ouro, e tesouros de reis e de províncias; reservei para mim cantores e cantoras, e dos prazeres dos filhos dos homens: várias mulheres.
Je m’ amassai de l’ argent et de l’ or, et les richesses des rois et des provinces. Je me procurai des chanteurs et des chanteuses, et les délices des fils de l’ homme, des femmes en grand nombre.
ich sammelte mir auch Silber und Gold und von den Königen und Ländern einen Schatz; ich schaffte mir Sänger und Sängerinnen und die Wonne der Menschen, allerlei Saitenspiel;
Ik vergaderde mij ook zilver en goud, en kleinoden der koningen en der landschappen; ik bestelde mij zangers en zangeressen, en wellustigheden der mensenkinderen, snarenspel, ja, allerlei snarenspel.
accumulai argento, oro, e le ricchezze dei re e delle province; mi procurai dei cantanti e delle cantanti, e ciò che fa la delizia de’ figliuoli degli uomini, delle donne in gran numero.
Zgromadziłem też sobie srebro i złoto, i klejnoty od królów i krain. Sporządziłem też sobie śpiewaków i śpiewaczki, i inne rozkosze synów ludzkich, i muzyczne naczynia rozliczne.
собрал себе серебра и золота и драгоценностей от царей и областей; завел у себя певцов и певиц и услаждения сынов человеческих - разные музыкальные орудия.
我又 為自己 積蓄 金 銀 和君王 的財寶，並各省的財寶；又 得 唱歌的男 女 和世人 所喜愛的物，並許多的妃嬪。
I got together silver and gold and the wealth of kings and of countries. I got makers of song, male and female; and the delights of the sons of men--girls of all sorts to be my brides.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Ecclesiastes 2:8
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree that this verse catalogs Solomon's comprehensive experiment in pleasure-seeking. He gathered silver and gold, treasure from subject kings and provinces, male and female singers, likely for court banquets (2 Samuel 19:35), and what the text calls 'the delights of the sons of men.' The final Hebrew phrase shiddah veshiddoth is notoriously obscure. Adam Clarke calls it 'utterly unknown,' though he and others suspect it refers to wives and concubines (cf. 1 Kings 11:3). Barnes and Keil & Delitzsch support this reading, noting that the enumeration would be incomplete without mention of Solomon's harem. The KJV and WEB traditions render 'musical instruments of all sorts,' linking to banquet music. Whatever the exact referent, the point is the same: Solomon held back nothing. He pursued every form of pleasure, wealth, entertainment, sensual delight, and the result, as verse 11 makes clear, was 'vanity and a chasing after wind.' The consensus is clear: this experiment in hedonism fails to deliver lasting meaning.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Musical instruments: KJV/WEB tradition, linking the phrase to banquet music and the delight of sound.
- Concubines/wives: Historical context of Solomon's harem (1 Kings 11:3) and lexical data in many lexicons (H7705).
- Uncertain/other: The word is a hapax legomenon; ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate, Syriac) give divergent translations; Clarke calls it 'utterly unknown.'
What is clear: Solomon accumulated an exhaustive array of pleasures and judged them all to be vanity.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of 'shiddah veshiddoth' | The phrase refers to some form of extraordinary pleasure or luxury. | Some Christians interpret it as 'musical instruments of all sorts' (KJV, WEB), while others understand it as 'concubines' or 'wives' (Barnes, Keil & Delitzsch, BSB). The word is a hapax and the ancient versions vary (LXX: 'cup-bearers'; Vulgate: 'cups'). |
| The persona of the Preacher | The author adopts the role of Solomon to speak with authority on wealth and pleasure. | Some traditions take this as literal autobiography; others see it as a literary device used by a later writer. |
| The verdict of vanity | All agree that the passage concludes that pursuing pleasure as an ultimate goal is futile. | None, this is the clear teaching of the verse in context. |
| The role of wisdom in the experiment | Solomon states that his wisdom remained with him throughout the pursuit (v.9). | Some argue that his wisdom enabled him to make a fair judgment about pleasure's emptiness; others see a subtle irony that even wisdom is insufficient to keep one from idolatry. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Ecclesiastes speaks through the persona of Solomon, son of David and king in Jerusalem, lending the experiment unique authority. The historical Solomon's wealth is well attested. According to 1 Kings 10:14, his annual gold revenue reached 666 talents; silver became 'as common as stones in Jerusalem' (1 Kings 10:27). The 'treasure of kings and of the provinces' likely refers to tribute, both forced payments from vassal kings (1 Kings 4:21) and gifts from allies like Hiram of Tyre (1 Kings 9:14) and the queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:10). The word for 'province' (medinah) appears mostly in post-exilic books, which has led many scholars to date Ecclesiastes later than Solomon's lifetime, but the scene is deliberately set in the golden age of Israel's monarchy.
Male and female singers were part of royal festivities (2 Samuel 19:35). The 'delights of the sons of men' is a deliberately vague phrase. The word ta'anug (delight) suggests exquisite pleasure, and the context of a king who 'did not withhold his heart from any joy' (v.10) points toward sensual indulgence. The following noun shiddah occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its lexical range is uncertain: it may be related to a root meaning 'to press' or possibly to a word for 'breast,' leading many to understand it as 'concubine' or 'wife.' The ancient Greek translation (LXX) rendered it 'cup-bearers,' the Vulgate 'cups,' while the Syriac read 'concubines.' This uncertainty should caution us against dogmatism, but the overall picture is unmistakable. Solomon built a world of pleasure as vast as his resources allowed, only to stand back and pronounce it empty.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for this verse. The Hebrew text is stable. The primary difficulty is lexical: the word shiddah (plural shiddoth) appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. Ancient translations diverge widely, the Septuagint reads 'cup-bearers,' the Vulgate 'cups,' the Syriac 'concubines', reflecting the uncertainty that persists today. This variety does not affect the overall argument of the passage.
Reception History
Early Christian and Jewish interpreters used this verse to illustrate the futility of sensual indulgence. Matthew Henry, writing in the Reformed tradition, noted that Solomon's experiment shows 'the vanity of worldly pleasure' and that 'the heart cannot rest in these things.' Medieval exegetes often applied the passage to warn against luxury and the love of money. In the modern period, the lexical ambiguity of shiddah has attracted significant scholarly attention, with debates over its meaning shaping commentaries on the book. Across eras, the core message remains unchanged: the pleasures of this world cannot deliver the lasting happiness humans crave.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- Pleasure in its fullest forms. Silver, gold, singers, and 'delights', Solomon sampled everything available to a king. The point is the completeness of the search.
- The vacuum at the center. Despite having it all, Solomon's conclusion in v.11 is 'all was vanity.' The experiment exposes that pleasure alone cannot anchor the soul.
- Finding meaning beyond the sun. Ecclesiastes pushes us toward the fear of God (12:13). The emptiness of pleasure is not a call to asceticism but a call to look higher.
Five-point outline
- Wealth beyond measure, silver and gold, the treasure of kings and provinces.
- Music and performance, male and female singers, the arts enlisted for personal enjoyment.
- Physical pleasure, the ambiguous 'delights of the sons of men,' likely including sexual gratification (concubines).
- Self-awareness, v.9: 'my wisdom remained with me.' Solomon did not become a fool; he could still evaluate.
- The crashing verdict, v.11: 'behold, all was vanity.' The entire construction of pleasure collapses.
Illustration hooks
- A person who finally retires to the beach and finds boredom settling in by the third week. The dream turns hollow.
- A music lover who curates the perfect playlist for every mood but faces an empty silence when the music stops.
- Someone who wins a lottery and buys everything they ever wanted, only to feel more isolated and anxious than before.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Did Solomon actually enjoy all these things, or was he already cynical?
- Is the Bible saying that pleasure itself is sinful? How do we distinguish between enjoyment and hedonism?
- If the wisest and richest man on earth could not find meaning in pleasure, what hope is there for us?
Leading a Discussion
Qoheleth invites us into his laboratory. He tried everything, wealth, music, sensual pleasure, and recorded his results. This passage forces us to examine our own assumptions about happiness. As you read Ecclesiastes 2:8-11, notice the progression and the punchline.
Discussion questions
- Read the verse aloud. What specific items does Solomon list? How are they different from one another?
- Why do you think the text includes both 'male and female singers'? What does music contribute to his experiment?
- The final phrase is notoriously ambiguous. Does it matter to the meaning of the passage whether it's 'musical instruments' or 'concubines'?
- In verse 10, Solomon says he did not withhold his heart from any joy. What does this say about his approach to life?
- How does verse 11 change the perspective? What does 'vanity and a chasing after wind' mean in this context?
- What are the modern equivalents of Solomon's list? Where do people today look for the 'delights of the sons of men'?
- How can a Christian enjoy God's good gifts without falling into the trap of hedonism described here?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| II Samuel 19:35 | I am eighty years old, today. Can I discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear the voice of singing men and singing women any more? Why then should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? |
| I Kings 9:14 | Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold. |
| I Kings 9:28 | They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon. |
| I Kings 10:10 | She gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was there such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. |
| I Kings 10:14 | Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold, |
| I Kings 10:21 | All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver, because it was considered of little value in the days of Solomon. |
| I Kings 14:21 | Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. |
| I Kings 14:22 | Judah did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes that the Hebrew words for musical instruments mean fields. He believes these terms describe real agricultural land rather than other things people sometimes suggest. This view holds even though the text also mentions singers and music.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes notes that kings had many wives not as musical groups but as separate people. He explains these wives came from different nations and were part of a king’s power.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges sees these items not as ordinary riches but as the special possessions of rulers and states. It also notes that the word for province here likely refers to Solomon’s twelve empire districts.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Geneva Bible Notes sees the king’s wealth and pleasures as something he holds like a captive woman. He does not truly enjoy them because they are not his own.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that Solomon gathered great wealth (gold silver jewels) and singers to enjoy. He also suggests other possible meanings for the last words of the verse.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
The commentary lists various items that kings possessed (treasures, singers, musical instruments, wives) as examples included in the text. It states that these items are necessary to make the list complete.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch argue that the difficult phrase "shiddah veshiddoth" refers to a multitude of women, specifically Solomon's harem. They see this as the climax of earthly pleasures and note that Solomon's collection of wives directly contradicts the law in Deuteronomy 17:17. Other interpretations like vessels or chariots fail to fit the context.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange views Solomon's accumulation of treasures, singers, and instruments as part of a deliberate, methodical experiment to test whether sensual pleasures could bring lasting contentment. He emphasizes that Solomon pursued every conceivable human delight, yet this entire pursuit was a calculated trial that ultimately demonstrated its own emptiness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that even though the man enjoyed great wealth fame and many pleasures his heart still found all of it meaningless. He states that in the end nothing he had brought true satisfaction.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley explains that "peculiar treasure" refers specifically to the finest jewels and rare items given to the king by other rulers, either as tribute or as gifts. The phrase "of provinces" indicates that these came from every province within his domain.