USB ~ Ecclesiastes 1

1 The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:† a

2 Vanity of vanities,† says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! b

Vanity of Human Toil

3 What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun?† c

4 One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises.

6 Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course.

7 All rivers flow to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they flow, the rivers continue to flow.

8 All things are wearisome,† too wearisome for words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing. d

9 What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun! e

10 Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!” has already existed in the ages that preceded us. f

11 There is no remembrance of past generations; g nor will future generations be remembered by those who come after them.†

I. QOHELETH’S INVESTIGATION OF LIFE

Twofold Introduction.

12 I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem,

13 and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. h A bad business God has given to human beings to be busied with.

14 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.† i

15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and you cannot count what is not there.†

16 j Though I said to myself, “See, I have greatly increased my wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge,”

17 yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. k

18 For in much wisdom there is much sorrow; whoever increases knowledge increases grief.†

Footnotes

†. 1:1 David’s son…king in Jerusalem: the intent of the author is to identify himself with Solomon. This is a literary device, by which the author hopes to commend his work to the public under the name of Israel’s most famous sage (see 1 Kgs 5:9-14).

†. 1:2 Vanity of vanities: a Hebrew superlative expressing the supreme degree of futility and emptiness.

†. 1:3 Under the sun: used throughout this book to signify “on the earth.”

†. 1:8 All things are wearisome: or, “All speech is wearisome.”

†. 1:11 Movement in nature and human activity appears to result in change and progress. The author argues that this change and progress are an illusion: “Nothing is new under the sun.”

†. 1:14 A chase after wind: an image of futile activity, like an attempt to corral the winds; cf. Hos 12:2. The ancient versions understood “affliction, dissipation of the spirit.” This phrase concludes sections of the text as far as 6:9.

†. 1:15 You cannot count what is not there: perhaps originally a commercial metaphor alluding to loss or deficit in the accounts ledger.

†. 1:18 Sorrow…grief: these terms refer not just to a store of knowledge or to psychological or emotional pain. Corporal punishment, sometimes quite harsh, was also employed frequently by parents and teachers.

1:1 Eccl 1:12; 12:9-10.
1:2 Eccl 12:8.
1:3 Eccl 2:11, 22; 3:9; 5:15.
1:8 Eccl 4:8; 5:9-11.
1:9 Eccl 3:15; 6:10.
1:10 Eccl 3:15.
1:11 Eccl 2:16.
1:13 Eccl 8:9.
1:14 Eccl 2:11, 17.
1:16 Eccl 2:9.
1:17 Eccl 1:3; 8:16.