Ecclesiastes 1
1
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 3What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?
4One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever. 5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth. 6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. 7All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again. 8All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10Is there a thing whereof men say, See, this is new? it hath been already, in the ages which were before us. 11There is no remembrance of the former generations; neither shall there be any remembrance of the latter generations that are to come, among those that shall come after.
12I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And 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. 14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind. 18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Ecclesiastes 1
1
1Here are the words of the Teacher, the king of Jerusalem, David's son.
2“Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.#1:2. The word used here five times! (and frequently repeated in the book) does not really mean “meaningless” as is so often translated. Its basic meaning is “vapor” or “breath,” and is associated with all that is transitory and fleeting. “Transient” or “ephemeral” would also reflect the meaning—it's not that there is no value, but that everything passes so quickly. Nothing lasts! It is the brevity of life that “makes no sense” and causes frustrating uncertainty. The shortness and unsubstantial nature of existence is what the Teacher finds hard to understand. It's “elusive.” 3What benefit#1:3. Here is another word that is used in a special sense in Ecclesiastes. Its primary meaning is “gain” or “profit” in a business sense, but here it is being used more in the sense of “life benefit”—in other words, what advantage is gained in the sense of “the meaning of life” and any future reward? do you get for slaving away in this life?#1:3. Literally, “under the sun.” 4People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever! 5The sun comes up, and the sun goes down, and then rushes to its place to rise again. 6The wind blows south, and then turns to the north. Round and round it spins, finally coming full circle. 7Streams all flow into the sea, but the sea never becomes full. The streams return to the place from where they came. 8Everything just keeps on going. You can't say all there is to say. You can't see all there is to see. You can't hear all there is to hear.#1:8. Literally, “man is not able to utter, the eye is not satisfied to see, the ear is not filled with hearing.”
9Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here.#1:9. “Here”: literally, “under the sun.” 10There's nothing anyone can point to and say, “Look! Here's something new.” In fact it's been around for ages, long before our time. 11The problem is#1:11. “The problem is”: implied. we don't remember people from the past, and people in the future won't remember those who came before them.
12I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem. 13I decided to focus my mind to explore, using wisdom, everything that happens here on earth. This is a tough assignment that God has given people to keep them busy! 14I examined everything people do here on earth, and discovered that it's all so temporary—trying to understand it is like trying to pin down the wind!#1:14. “Wind.” There is a problem in translation since the same word is used in this book for “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” So the proverbial “chasing after the wind” could indeed mean “chasing after breath/spirit,” which could be interpreted as seeking the meaning of life (breath/spirit). This is why the KJV translates the phrase as “vexation of spirit.”
15You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there.#1:15. These were probably everyday proverbs of the time. They really are saying that things have to be accepted as they are.
16I thought to myself, “I've become very wise, wiser than all the kings of Jerusalem before me. My mind has gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.” 17So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind. 18For with great wisdom comes great frustration. The greater the knowledge, the greater the pain.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com