What Does Ecclesiastes 2:9 Mean in the King James?
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Wisdom does not merely survive your expansion; it stands alongside it.
THE MEANING
Growth can carry wisdom with it; it does not force wisdom to disappear. Here, wisdom remains standing with you as what you have built expands.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that becoming greater means becoming less wise.
THE ROOT
עָמְדָה
ʿāmedāh
GROWS FROM
עמד
ʿ-m-d
To stand, remain, or take a stand.
The Hebrew verb behind “remained” means “stood.” Wisdom is pictured not just as something he possesses, but as something still standing with him while his life expands. The English leaves that image mostly hidden.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāmad: To stand or remain.
עָמַד
It makes wisdom’s continued presence feel active: wisdom stands with him through the change.
heʿemid: To make stand, set up, or establish.
הֶעֱמִיד
This causative branch echoes the image of something given a firm place beside him.
וְהוֹסַפְתִּי
vehosaphti
GROWS FROM
יסף
y-s-f
To add, increase, or continue.
“increased” in this verse is vehosaphti. The verse describes greatness as something added to what came before. That accumulation does not crowd wisdom out: the same sentence holds expansion and wisdom’s continued presence together.
ALSO GROWS
hosif: To add or increase.
הוֹסִיף
This is the verb’s basic action: adding to what is already there.
tosefet: An addition or supplement.
תּוֹסֶפֶת
The noun branch preserves the sense of growth as something added, layer by layer.
THE PATTERN
Expansion can coexist with wisdom rather than displacing it.
So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.THE THREAD
But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.The Hebrew root עמד (ʿ-m-d), meaning “stand,” appears in both verses: Moses is told to “stand” by God, while wisdom “stood” with the speaker. That shared verb gives “remained with me” the image of a presence staying at someone’s side.
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