(3.) =I investigated with my heart= (or _in_ my heart; but the former makes better sense. His heart was the medium through which the investigation was made. He wanted to see if material enjoyment would satisfy his heart, _i.e._ the emotional part of his nature) =in order to a drawing with wine= (the LXX. render ὡς οἶνον, ‘_as_ wine,’ but they probably did not read otherwise than our present text, for this _as_ represents the את which follows) =as to my flesh= (the meaning of the Hebrew is that he drew or enticed with wine with respect to his flesh, and that hence his object in using the wine was to entice the flesh. The rendering of the LXX. is _ad sensum_, preserving also a rendering of each word), =and my heart led= (_i.e._ as a man leads an animal, Psalm lxxx. 1, Isaiah xi. 6. As ‘heart’ is repeated, we have the meaning ‘that same heart’) =with wisdom= (because unless he enjoyed wisely he would not enjoy at all) =and= (repeated in the same clause, equal therefore to ‘and so’) =to lay hold of false wisdom= (סכלוּת, occurs chapters ii. 3, 12, 13, vii. 25, x. 1, 13, and is peculiar to this book. The LXX. render εὐφροσύνην ‘pleasure,’ which, however A² alters to ἀφροσύνη, ‘folly,’ the reason of which will appear presently. The meaning of the root סכל is to ‘play,’ or ‘act the fool,’ and in this respect differs from כסל, which has the idea of ‘stupidity,’ and in the hiphil form, ‘made stupid,’ or ‘befooled.’ In all the ten places in which the root סכל occurs in other parts of Scripture, we find the meaning of elaborateness and subtilty as well as folly; compare 1 Samuel xiii. 13, Saul’s burnt-offering in the absence of Samuel; 2 Samuel xxiv. 10; 1 Chronicles xxi. 8, David’s numbering the people; 2 Chronicles xvi. 9, Asa’s reliance on Syria; 2 Samuel xv. 31, Ahithophel’s counsel; similarly Isaiah xliv. 25, where knowledge is said to be misused; so also סָכָל, occurs Jeremiah iv. 22, v. 21, has evidently the same shade of meaning. It is hard to find a single word which will render it; ‘foolish wisdom’ or ‘clever follies’ are the best combinations that occur. It will be seen also, in referring to the lexicon, that the LXX., who translate by εὐφροσύνη, apparently use the word occasionally in a sinister aspect, see Proverbs xxx. 32, Sira xiii. 8. The Syriac here reads (‡ Syriac word) (see i. 17), ‘prudence,’ ‘intelligence,’ contrary to its interpretation in other places. On the whole, however, it is not difficult to see why the LXX. rendered as they did. That this pleasure was of a bad kind, or deceptive, the sequel shows, but it may be doubted whether their rendering preserved the meaning of סכ״, even if, which is not impossible, they themselves understood it). =Until I= should =see where= (in the sense of whereabouts, see 1 Samuel ix. 8) is =this good to the sons of Adam, which= (full relative, referring back to the whole idea, equivalent therefore to ‘what _good_ it is which’) =they do under the sun the