The Meaning of Ecclesiastes 2:4 Explained

Ecclesiastes 2:4

KJV: I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

YLT: I made great my works, I builded for me houses, I planted for me vineyards.

Darby: I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;

ASV: I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

I made me great  works;  I builded  me houses;  I planted  me vineyards: 

What does Ecclesiastes 2:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Ecclesiastes 2:1-17 - 24-26, Vain Undertakings
At the beginning of his search for happiness Solomon erected a splendid home and planned all kinds of delights of an artistic and sensuous nature. There were gardens, pools of crystal water, fruit trees, meadows filled with cattle, regal splendor, musicians who poured into the palace their sweet melodies. He went further, adding to architecture and art his intellectual pursuits. But when he had gone to the furthest limit, he turned from it all, with the old gnawing at his heart-Vanity of vanities!
A few days before the death of the great Cardinal Mazarin, he was heard by a friend to utter something of the same sad refrain. "I was walking," says this friend, "in one of the apartments of the palace, when I recognized the approach of the Cardinal by the sound of his slippered feet, which he dragged one after the other as a man suffering from a mortal malady. I concealed myself behind the tapestry and heard him say, as he looked at one picture and rare treasure after another, "˜I must leave all these.'" Let us, in the light of these things, ponder again those words of Christ in Luke 12:33. [source]

Chapter Summary: Ecclesiastes 2

1  the vanity of human courses is the work of pleasure
12  Though the wise be better than the fool, yet both have one event
18  The vanity of human labor, in leaving it they know not to whom
24  Nothing better than joy in our labor but that is God's gift

What do the individual words in Ecclesiastes 2:4 mean?

I made great my works I built myself houses and planted myself vineyards
הִגְדַּ֖לְתִּי מַעֲשָׂ֑י בָּנִ֤יתִי לִי֙ בָּתִּ֔ים נָטַ֥עְתִּי לִ֖י כְּרָמִֽים

הִגְדַּ֖לְתִּי  I  made  great 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: גָּדַל  
Sense: to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things.
מַעֲשָׂ֑י  my  works 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: מַעֲשֶׂה  
Sense: deed, work.
בָּנִ֤יתִי  I  built 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: בָּנָה  
Sense: to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue.
לִי֙  myself 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
בָּתִּ֔ים  houses 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
נָטַ֥עְתִּי  and  planted 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: נָטַע  
Sense: to plant, fasten, fix, establish.
לִ֖י  myself 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
כְּרָמִֽים  vineyards 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: כֶּרֶם 
Sense: vineyard.