A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Ecclesiastes 1
Ecclesiastes 1 is the opening chapter of the twenty-first book of the Bible. The 18-verse chapter introduces the entire book by stating its central claim, that everything in human life is fleeting and unsatisfying, and offering the first observations that support it.
The chapter opens by naming the speaker: "the words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem." This figure, often identified with Solomon, will narrate the entire book.
The famous refrain comes in the second verse: "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.
The Teacher then asks a question that runs through the whole book. What does a man gain from all his labor under the sun? The answer is suggested by what follows: nothing lasting. Generations come and go but the earth remains. The sun rises and sets and hurries back to where it rose. The wind blows in circles. The rivers run to the sea but the sea is never full.
The Teacher then announces his project. He has set out to investigate everything done under heaven by wisdom. He has seen everything, and it is all chasing the wind. He observes that the more wisdom a person has, the more grief; the more knowledge, the more sorrow. The chapter closes there, with the project announced and the conclusion already telegraphed.
Verse 1. These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
Verse 2. “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
Verse 3. What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Verse 4. Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
Verse 5. The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
Verse 6. The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
Verse 7. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.
Verse 8. All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.
Verse 9. What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Verse 10. Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
Verse 11. There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
Verse 12. I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Verse 13. And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a miserable task God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!
Verse 14. I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
Verse 15. What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Verse 16. I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
Verse 17. So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
Verse 18. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
Last updated: