Charles Ellicott Commentary Ecclesiastes 1:13

"And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith." — Ecclesiastes 1:13 (ASV)

Gave my heart. —The phrase occurs again in this book (Ecclesiastes 1:17; Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 8:9; Ecclesiastes 8:16) and often elsewhere (2 Chronicles 11:16, and other passages). The heart among the Hebrews is regarded as the seat, not merely of the feelings, but also of the intellectual faculties, and so the word is constantly used in what follows. “I gave my heart” is the same as “I applied my mind.”

To seek.—Deuteronomy 13:14; Leviticus 10:16.

Search out.—Numbers 14:36, 14:38; Ecclesiastes 7:25.

Travail. —The word occurs again in this book (Ecclesiastes 2:23, 2:26; Ecclesiastes 3:10; Ecclesiastes 4:8; Ecclesiastes 5:3, 5:14; Ecclesiastes 8:16) but nowhere else in the Old Testament, though kindred forms are common. The word itself is common in Rabbinical Hebrew, in the sense of business.

“To afflict them” (margin). This is too strong a translation; it is better, to travail therein.