Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is the twenty-first book of the Bible and the third of the wisdom books. It is unlike any other book in the Bible, a long reflection by a narrator called "the Teacher" or "the Preacher" on the apparent meaninglessness of human life. The book is traditionally attributed to Solomon, though most modern scholars place its writing later. Whoever wrote it, the voice is distinctive: world-weary, observational, sometimes bleak.

The book opens with what becomes its refrain: "Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher. Vanity of vanities! Everything is vanity." The Hebrew word translated "vanity" suggests a vapor or a breath, something insubstantial that cannot be held. The Teacher applies this judgment to almost everything humans pursue: wealth, pleasure, achievement, wisdom itself.

He reports on his own experiments. He gave himself to pleasure; it was vanity. He built great works; vanity. He pursued wisdom; vanity, because the wise and the fool both die. Time and chance happen to all. The book includes the famous passage that begins "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven," a meditation on the cycles of human life.

The book ends with the Teacher's conclusion: fear God, keep his commandments, and remember that God will bring every deed into judgment. Whatever else is vanity, that is not.