Paraphrase of Ecclesiastes · §2.1 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Solomon tries pleasure and great works

Solomon tries luxury, great buildings, servants, wealth and music, then comes to his senses and sees them as wretched.

Judging that this was indeed so, I resolved to turn to another way of life: to give myself over to luxury and to make trial of pleasures of many kinds (Ecclesiastes 2:1). Now I have understood that all such things are vain. I held back laughter that ran on without reason, and I disciplined pleasure into sobriety, rebuking it sharply (Ecclesiastes 2:2). And reasoning that the soul can steady the body's nature when it is drunk and flowing like wine, and that self-control makes desire its slave, I was eager to see what worthy thing is set before human beings, what is truly good, that they may accomplish in this present life (Ecclesiastes 2:3).

For I went through everything else that people think admirable. I raised lofty houses and planted vineyards (Ecclesiastes 2:4); I laid out gardens and acquired and tended fruit trees of every kind (Ecclesiastes 2:5); great pools were built to hold water, set apart to water the plants abundantly (Ecclesiastes 2:6). I gathered about me a crowd of household servants, men and women, some acquired from outside, others born in my own house whose service I enjoyed (Ecclesiastes 2:7). Herds of four-footed beasts, many herds of cattle and many flocks of sheep, came under my control, more than anyone of old had possessed (Ecclesiastes 2:7). Treasures of gold and silver flowed in to me, for I had made the kings of all peoples my guards and my tributaries (Ecclesiastes 2:8). Great choirs of men and women together were gathered for my delight, performing songs in perfect harmony (Ecclesiastes 2:8). As for banquets, and the cupbearers chosen from men and women alike whom I assigned to this side of luxury, I could not even count them, so far did I surpass in these things those who had reigned in Jerusalem before me (Ecclesiastes 2:8-9).

Then it happened that my wisdom grew less, while desire that is not good increased. For I gave way to every lure of the eyes and to the unchecked impulses of the heart that pressed on me from every side (Ecclesiastes 2:10); I surrendered myself to the hope of pleasures, and I tied my own will fast to every wretched luxury. For so far had my thoughts been carried toward ruin that I believed these things were good and that it was right for me to pursue them. Then at last I came to my senses and lifted my eyes, and I saw what I had in my hands: things wretched and utterly grievous, the works of a spirit that is not good (Ecclesiastes 2:11). For now nothing at all that human beings choose appears to me, by right reason, worth accepting or worth pursuing with zeal.

Greek

Τοῦτο δὴ τοῦθ᾽ οὕτως ἔχειν νομίσας, ἔγνων ἐπὶ ἑτέραν ἰδέαν τραπέσθαι βίου, καὶ ἐκδοῦναι μὲν ἐμαυτὸν τρυφῇ, πεῖραν δὲ λαβεῖν ἡδονῶν ποικίλων. Νῦν τοίνυν συνῆκα ὡς τὰ τοιαῦτα μάταια σύμπαντα· καὶ γέλωτα μὲν εἰκῆ φερόμενον ἐπέσχον, ἡδονὴν δὲ πρὸς τὸ σωφρονεῖν ἐκόλασα, πικρῶς ἐπιτιμήσας αὐτῇ. Λογισάμενος δέ, ὅτι ψυχὴ δύναται στῆσαι μεθύουσαν καὶ ῥέουσαν ὥσπερ οἶνον σώματος φύσιν, ἐγκράτεια δὲ δουλοῦται ἐπιθυμίαν· προεθυμήθην κατιδεῖν, τί ποτε εἴη προκείμενον ἀνθρώποις σπουδαῖον, καὶ τῷ ὄντι καλὸν ὃ καταπράξονται παρὰ τουτονὶ τὸν βίον. Διεξελήλυθα γὰρ τὰ λοιπὰ σύμπαντα ὅσ᾽ ἀξιάγαστα νομίζεται, οἴκων τε ὑπερυψήλων ἀνορθώσεις καὶ φυτείας ἀμπέλων, ἔτι δὲ παραδείσων κατασκευάς, καὶ παντοίων δένδρων καρποφόρων κτήσεις καὶ ἐπιμελείας· ὅπου δὲ καὶ δεξαμεναὶ μεγάλαι πρὸς ὑποδοχὰς ὑδάτων κατεσκευάσθησαν, εἰς δαψιλῆ ἀρδείαν τῶν φυτῶν ἀπονενεμημέναι. Περιεβαλόμην δὲ καὶ οἰκετῶν πλῆθος, θεράποντας καὶ θεραπαίνας· ἄλλους μὲν ἔξωθεν κτησάμενος, ἄλλους δὲ καὶ παρ᾽ ἐμαυτῷ γενομένους καρπωσάμενος. Ζώων δὲ τετραπόδων ἀγέλαι, πολλαὶ μὲν βουκολίων, πολλαὶ δὲ ποιμνίων ὑπὸ τὴν ἐμὴν ἦλθον ἐξουσίαν παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν τῶν πάλαι. Θησαυροί τε χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου προσέρρεον, δορυφόρους τέ μοι καὶ δασμοφόρους, τοὺς ἁπάντων βασιλεῖς πεποιημένῳ. Χοροί τε συνεκροτοῦντο παμπληθεῖς, ἀρρένων δέ τε ὁμοῦ καὶ θηλειῶν εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν τέρψιν, παναρμόνιον ἐκπονούντων ᾠδήν. Συμπόσιά γε μὴν καὶ οἰνοχόους εἰς τοῦτο ἀπέταξα τῆς τρυφῆς μέρος ἐξ ἑκατέρου γένους ἀνθρώπων ἐξειλεγμένους, οὐδ᾽ ἂν καταλέγειν ἔχοιμι, τοσοῦτον ὑπερέβαλον τούτοις τοὺς πρὸ ἐμοῦ βασιλεύσαντας Ἱερουσαλήμ. Εἶτα συνέβαινε, τὰ μὲν τῆς σοφίας μοι ἐλαττοῦσθαι, πληθύνειν δὲ τὰ τῆς οὐκ ἀγαθῆς ἐπιθυμίας. Παντὶ γὰρ ὀφθαλμῶν τε δελεάσματι, καὶ καρδίας ἀκράτοις ὁρμαῖς ἐφιεὶς πανταχόθεν προσπιπτούσαις, ἡδονῶν ἐλπίσιν ἐμαυτὸν ἐκδεδωκώς· καὶ πάσαις τρυφαῖς δειλαίαις, τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ ἐγκατέδησα προαίρεσιν. Οὕτω γάρ μου αἱ ἐνθυμήσεις, εἰς δυσπραγίαν ἠνέχθησαν, ὡς ταῦτα μὲν εἶναι καλά, ταῦτα δέ μοι προσήκειν διαπράττεσθαι νομίζειν. Εἶτα ποτὲ ἀνανήψας ἐγὼ καὶ ἀναβλέψας, κατεῖδον ἅπερ ἐν χερσὶν εἶχον, μοχθηρὰ ὁμοῦ καὶ παγχάλεπα, πνεύματος οὐκ ἀγαθοῦ ποιήματα. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ὁτιοῦν ὑπ᾽ ἀνθρώπων ᾑρημένον, ἀποδεκτὸν εἶναί μοι νῦν καταφαίνεται καὶ περισπούδαστον ὀρθῷ λογισμῷ.

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About this text

Gregory Thaumaturgus retells the whole of Ecclesiastes in Solomon's voice: human affairs are empty, pleasure and wealth never satisfy, and the book ends with its charge to fear God and keep His commandments, for every person will be judged. A fresh English translation from the Greek.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this paraphrase of Ecclesiastes for the whole Church of God. He was a third-century Christian bishop, born in Neocaesarea in Pontus to a wealthy pagan family and originally named Theodore.

The work is a paraphrase, not a commentary, presenting the teaching of Ecclesiastes in Gregory's own Greek. Gregory speaks in his own voice when he says he is addressing the Church and has given these matters sufficient thought.

A reader will meet Solomon, King David, and Gregory himself. The argument is that all human affairs and pursuits are empty and useless, because people are defeated by temporal things and refuse to look above the stars with the noble eye of the soul. Human life wears away like winter torrents pouring into the boundless deep. What God has established remains fixed, but human words and deeds have no measure, and idle talk brings no profit. Nothing new ever happens; what seems new was already known to the ancients, and both past and present fade into oblivion. The paraphrase then follows Ecclesiastes to its end: Solomon tries wisdom, pleasure and great works and finds them empty, weighs wisdom against folly, tells how he once reasoned that the righteous and the wicked meet the same end and rejects it, and closes with the charge to fear God and keep His commandments, for every person will be judged. The work paraphrases Ecclesiastes, so readers should use the Septuagint book name and numbering, cited as Ecclesiastes (LXX).

English translated from the Greek of the MGR / Documenta Catholica Omnia transcription (TLG 2063.006, from PG 10), read from its page images. From Ecclesiastes 1:13 to the end, each passage was also checked against the Greek and Latin columns of the Opera omnia print (Paris, 1622). The older Ante-Nicene Fathers English was used only as a sense check for the opening section.

Printed text used

Translated from MGR / Documenta Catholica Omnia concordance (Greek · Whole work)
Translated from Greek of the opening section (Greek · Ecclesiastes 1:1-12)
Also checked Opera omnia, Greek and Latin (Paris: Sonnius, Morel and Cramoisy, 1622), page images (Greek and Latin · Ecclesiastes 1:13 to the end)

Where the prints differ

Section 5.1 (Ecclesiastes 5:8) — The transcription brackets οὐ as an editor's supplement; the 1622 print has it as text ('there is no need to wonder'), and the English follows the 1622 print.
Section 5.2 (Ecclesiastes 5:10) — The transcription's χόρος is read as κόρος ('fill, satiety') with the 1622 print.
Section 7.1 (Ecclesiastes 6:12) — The transcription's πλέοντι is read as πλέον τι ('anything more') with the 1622 print.
Section 10.2 (Ecclesiastes 10:9) — The transcription prints ἀλλὰ μή with the editor's conjecture μήν; the English follows μήν ('Moreover'), as the 1622 Latin does.
Section 12.2 (Ecclesiastes 12:8) — The transcription's ἂ is read as the relative ἃ ('what I said before'), as the 1622 Latin requires.
Chapters 6-12 — Small typing and accent errors in the transcription are corrected from the 1622 print.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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