Ecclesiastes

These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, who was king in Jerusalem.

1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Note"Teacher" translates the Hebrew word Qoheleth, formed from a root meaning "to assemble" or "gather": someone who calls a group together and addresses it. The King James renders it "Preacher." It is used through the book as a title rather than a personal name. "Son of David, king in Jerusalem" points to Solomon, though the book never names him and "son of" in Hebrew can mean any male descendant.

2"Empty, completely empty," says the Teacher. "Empty, completely empty. All of it is empty."

2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "empty" is hebel, whose basic sense is vapor, mist or breath, something real enough to see but impossible to grasp or hold on to. Depending on the sentence it can carry the sense of futile, fleeting, insubstantial, or absurd; no single English word covers it, and "vanity" in the King James means emptiness, not conceit. "Empty of empties" (King James "vanity of vanities") is a standard Hebrew way of forming a superlative, like "king of kings" or "song of songs": the utmost possible case of the thing.

3What does a person really gain from all the hard work he does here under the sun?

3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

Note"Under the sun" is this book's recurring phrase for the observable world of human life on earth, everything that happens where people can see it. It occurs about thirty times and functions as a boundary marker for what the Teacher is talking about.

4One generation passes away and another takes its place, but the earth stays on forever.

4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

5The sun rises and the sun goes down, and then it hurries back to the place where it rises again.

5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "hurries" literally means pants or gasps for breath, the sun is pictured as laboring its way back to its starting point, tired like a worker.

6The wind blows toward the south, then turns around toward the north. It goes round and round, always returning to the same paths.

6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.

7All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. The water goes back to the place the rivers started from, and from there it flows again.

7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

NoteThe Hebrew of the second half is compressed and can be read two ways: that the water returns to the place the rivers set out from, or simply that the rivers keep going, again and again, to the place they always go. The picture of endless circuit is clear; the mechanism is not spelled out.

8Everything is tiring, more tiring than anyone can put into words. The eye never sees enough to be satisfied, and the ear never hears enough to be full.

8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

NoteThe Hebrew word here means both "words" and "things," so the line can equally be read "all words are wearisome (no one can say it all" or "all things are wearisome) no one can describe it." Both readings are old and translators divide between them.

9Whatever has happened before is what will happen again. Whatever has been done before is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.

9The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10Is there anything a person can point to and say, "Look, this one is new"? It was already here long ago, in the times before us.

10Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

11No one remembers the people who lived before. And the people who are still to come will not be remembered either by those who come after them.

11There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

NoteThe Hebrew has no noun, only a plural form that may be masculine ("former people") or neuter ("former things"). So the verse can mean earlier generations are forgotten, or earlier events are forgotten; the Hebrew allows both at once.

12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

12I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

NoteThe Hebrew verb form normally means "I was" or "I have been" king, an odd thing for a reigning monarch to say about himself, and translators divide over whether to render it as a completed past or as a simple statement of status.

13I set my mind to study and explore, using wisdom, everything that is done under the sky. This heavy task is what God has given people to keep them busy.

13And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.

Note"I set my mind" renders the Hebrew "I gave my heart." In Hebrew the heart is the seat of thought, decision and intention rather than of feeling, closer to the English "mind" than to the English "heart." The same phrase recurs in verse 17.

14I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and all of it is empty, like chasing after the wind.

14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

NoteThe Hebrew phrase behind "chasing after the wind" uses a word that can mean pursuing, striving after, herding, or feeding on; ruach means both "wind" and "breath/spirit." So the image has been read as chasing wind, herding wind, feeding on wind, and, as in the King James "vexation of spirit", as a troubling of the spirit. The phrase recurs as a refrain through the book.

15What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be counted.

15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

NoteBoth halves are proverbial sayings the Teacher quotes. The second uses accounting language: a shortfall, something absent from the total, cannot be entered in the count: you cannot add up what is not there.

16I said to myself, "Look, I have become great. I have gained more wisdom than anyone who ruled in Jerusalem before me. My mind has taken in a great deal of wisdom and knowledge."

16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.

NoteThe Hebrew reads "all who were over Jerusalem before me." If the speaker is Solomon, only David had reigned there as an Israelite king before him, so the phrase is generally taken broadly, covering all earlier rulers and wise men of the city, including those before Israel held it.

17So I set my mind to understand wisdom, and also to understand madness and foolishness. I learned that this too is like chasing after the wind.

17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

NoteIn Hebrew wisdom writing, "folly" does not mean low intelligence. It names a settled way of living that ignores or rejects wisdom, a practical and moral failing rather than a mental one. "Madness" is its paired extreme, behavior that has lost its bearings altogether.

18Because with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and the more a person knows, the more pain he feels.

18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.