The Meaning of Ecclesiastes 2:9 Explained

Ecclesiastes 2:9

KJV: So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

YLT: And I became great, and increased above every one who had been before me in Jerusalem; also, my wisdom stood with me.

Darby: And I became great, and increased more than all that had been before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

ASV: So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

So I was great,  and increased  more than all that were before  me in Jerusalem:  also my wisdom  remained  with me. 

What does Ecclesiastes 2:9 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 2:9 mean?

so I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem Also my wisdom remained with me
וְגָדַ֣לְתִּי וְהוֹסַ֔פְתִּי מִכֹּ֛ל שֶׁהָיָ֥ה לְפָנַ֖י בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑ם אַ֥ף חָכְמָתִ֖י עָ֥מְדָה לִּֽי

וְגָדַ֣לְתִּי  so  I  became  great 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, first person common singular
Root: גָּדַל  
Sense: to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, praise, magnify, do great things.
וְהוֹסַ֔פְתִּי  and  excelled  more 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive perfect, first person common singular
Root: יָסַף 
Sense: to add, increase, do again.
מִכֹּ֛ל  than  all 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
שֶׁהָיָ֥ה  who  were 
Parse: Pronoun, relative, Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
לְפָנַ֖י  before  me 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑ם  in  Jerusalem 
Parse: Preposition-b, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: יְרוּשָׁלַםִ  
Sense: the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split.
אַ֥ף  Also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: אַף  
Sense: also, yea, though, so much the more adv.
חָכְמָתִ֖י  my  wisdom 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: חָכְמָה  
Sense: wisdom.
עָ֥מְדָה  remained 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: עָמַד  
Sense: to stand, remain, endure, take one’s stand.
לִּֽי  with  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular