Ecclesiastes 2:7

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

American King James Version (AKJV)

I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

American Standard Version (ASV)

I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in Jerusalem;

Basic English Translation (BBE)

I got men-servants and women-servants, and they gave birth to sons and daughters in my house. I had great wealth of herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.

Webster's Revision

I procured me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

World English Bible

I bought male servants and female servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem;

English Revised Version (ERV)

I bought menservants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all that were before me in Jerusalem:

Clarke's Ecclesiastes 2:7 Bible Commentary

Servants and maidens - For my works, fields, folds, and various domestic labors.

Servants born in any house - Besides those hired from without, he had married couples in the precincts of his grounds, palaces, etc., who, when their children grew up, got them employment with themselves.

Great and small cattle - Oxen, neat, horses, asses, mules, camels, and such like; with sheep and goats. And multitudes of most of these he needed, when we are told that his household consumed daily ten stall-fed oxen, with twenty from the pasture, with a hundred sheep; besides harts, roebucks, fallow deer, fatted fowls, and other kinds of provision, Probably, such another court for splendor and expense was not in the universe.

Barnes's Ecclesiastes 2:7 Bible Commentary

I got - Rather, I bought, in distinction from those born in the house. The "children of Solomon's servants" (compare Ezra 2:55, Ezra 2:58) were more probably of Canaanite origin 1 Kings 9:20-21; 1 Kings 5:15 than Hebrews 1 Kings Hebrews 9:22.

Possessions of great and small cattle - Rather, herds of oxen and sheep.

All ... before me - King David's herds and flocks are mentioned in 1 Chronicles 27:29, 1 Chronicles 27:31 : but we have no specific account of the wealth of other Canaanite or Hebrew inhabitants of Jerusalem before Solomon.