9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
9 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
9 So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
9 Oh, how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What's more, I kept a clear head through it all.
9 So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.
9 So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:9
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
(Read Ecclesiastes 2:1-11)
Solomon soon found mirth and pleasure to be vanity. What does noisy, flashy mirth towards making a man happy? The manifold devices of men's hearts, to get satisfaction from the world, and their changing from one thing to another, are like the restlessness of a man in a fever. Perceiving it was folly to give himself to wine, he next tried the costly amusements of princes. The poor, when they read such a description, are ready to feel discontent. But the remedy against all such feelings is in the estimate of it all by the owner himself. All was vanity and vexation of spirit: and the same things would yield the same result to us, as to Solomon. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content. His wisdom remained with him; a strong understanding, with great human knowledge. But every earthly pleasure, when unconnected with better blessings, leaves the mind as eager and unsatisfied as before. Happiness arises not from the situation in which we are placed. It is only through Jesus Christ that final blessedness can be attained.