The Pulpit Commentary on Ecclesiastes 2:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

I said of laughter, It is mad. Laughter and mirth are personified, hence treated as masculine. He uses the term "mad" in reference to the statement in Ecclesiastes 1:17, "I gave my heart to know madness and folly."

Septuagint, "I said to laughter, Error ( περιφοράν);" Vulgate, Risum reputavi errorem. Neither of these is as accurate as the Authorized Version. Of mirth, What doeth it? What does it effect towards real happiness and contentment?

How does it help to fill the void, to give lasting satisfaction? So we have in Proverbs 14:13, "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of mirth is heaviness;" though the context is different.

The Vulgate renders loosely, Quid frustra deeiperis?

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