The Preacher’s Theme: The Vanity of Human Endeavors
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
Ecc.1.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- דברי: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,1,c,sg
- קהלת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- בן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- דוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- בירושלם: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Prov.1.1 (verbal): Same authorial formula: 'The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel'—parallels Ecclesiastes' identification of speaker and Davidic/royal attribution.
- Prov.30.1 (structural): Begins with the formula 'The words of Agur son of Jakeh' (דברי...), paralleling Ecclesiastes' opening 'The words of Qoheleth, son of David'—a similar authorial/frame device.
- Song of Solomon 1:1 (allusion): Traditional Solomonic attribution ('The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's') echoes the association of wisdom literature with a son of David and royal authorship.
- 1 Kings 11:42 (thematic): States that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem—provides the historical/royal context behind the designation 'king in Jerusalem' and links Qoheleth's claim to the Davidic monarchy.
Alternative generated candidates
- The words of Qohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
- The words of Qohelet, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Ecc.1.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הבל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הבלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- קהלת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- הבל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הבלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- הכל: PRON,m,sg,abs
- הבל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 12:8 (quotation): Exact repetition of the formula 'Vanity of vanities... all is vanity' concluding the book; affirms thematic frame and rhetorical closure.
- Ecclesiastes 1:14 (structural): Immediate internal parallel within Qoheleth: repeats 'all is vanity' and expands with 'vexation of spirit,' developing the book's central diagnosis.
- Psalm 39:5 (verbal): Uses the same Hebrew concept hevel ('vanity'/'breath') to describe human transience—'every man at his best state is altogether vanity'—echoing Qoheleth's theme.
- James 4:14 (thematic): New Testament reflection on life's transience ('you are a vapor...'), resonating with Qoheleth's emphasis on the fleeting, ephemeral nature of human existence.
Alternative generated candidates
- Vanity of vanities, says Qohelet; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
- Vanity of vanities, says Qohelet; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
Ecc.1.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מה: PRON,int
- יתרון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לאדם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בכל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עמלו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- שיעמל: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- תחת: PREP
- השמש: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 (verbal): Echoes the same concern about toil 'under the sun' — the worker's anxiety and the sense that his labor yields no lasting profit or ownership.
- Ecclesiastes 3:9 (verbal): Asks a closely related question ('What profit hath he that worketh?'), repeating the theme of human labor's doubtful return.
- Ecclesiastes 5:16-17 (thematic): Describes the futility of labor that cannot be enjoyed: a man toils, leaves wealth to another, and gains no lasting satisfaction—developing the same existential question.
- Job 7:1 (verbal): Uses similar language about life as drudgery and the burdensome nature of human toil on earth, resonating with Qoheleth's complaint about labor.
- Genesis 3:17-19 (allusion): Provides the background motive for human toil — the curse that makes work toilsome — which underlies the question of what advantage comes from labor.
Alternative generated candidates
- What profit has a man from all his toil with which he toils under the sun?
- What profit has man from all his toil with which he labors under the sun?
Ecc.1.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- דור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הלך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ודור: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- והארץ: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לעולם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עמדת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 8:22 (verbal): Uses the formula "while the earth remains" to indicate the earth's continuance through recurring cycles—parallels Ecclesiastes' claim that the earth endures as generations come and go.
- Psalm 104:5 (verbal): Declares that God "set the earth on its foundations; it shall never be moved," echoing the motif of the earth's stability and permanence found in Ecclesiastes 1:4.
- Psalm 90:5-6 (thematic): Contrasts human transience with cosmic continuity: generations and human life are fleeting (like grass), a theme resonant with Ecclesiastes' observation that generations pass while the earth remains.
- 2 Peter 3:10-13 (thematic): Engages the same cosmic frame—heaven and earth and their fate—by contrasting temporal human history with eschatological change, providing a later theological response to ideas of permanence and passing.
Alternative generated candidates
- A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.
- A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.
Ecc.1.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- וזרח: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- השמש: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ובא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- השמש: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ואל: CONJ+PREP
- מקומו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,poss:3,m
- שואף: VERB,qal,part,3,m,sg
- זורח: VERB,qal,part,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- שם: ADV
Parallels
- Psalm 19:4-6 (verbal): Speaks of the sun rising at one end of the heavens and making its circuit to the other—language and imagery of the sun’s regular course parallel to Ecclesiastes’ description of rising and returning to its place.
- Psalm 104:19-23 (verbal): Describes the ordering of moon and sun and the sun’s appointed time for setting; like Ecclesiastes it emphasizes the established, recurring pattern of day and night.
- Psalm 113:3 (verbal): Uses the phrase “from the rising of the sun to its setting,” echoing the motif of the sun’s daily cycle that Ecclesiastes highlights.
- Job 38:12-15 (thematic): God’s rhetorical questions about commanding the morning and fixing its place thematically parallel Qoheleth’s observation of the sun’s rising and its fixed course.
- Joshua 10:12-13 (allusion): The account of the sun standing still contrasts with the normal cycle described in Ecclesiastes; it presupposes the sun’s regular rising and setting that Qoheleth notes.
Alternative generated candidates
- The sun rises, the sun sets, and to its place it hastens; there it rises again.
- The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries to the place where it rises.
Ecc.1.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הולך: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- דרום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וסובב: CONJ+VERB,qal,ptcp,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- צפון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- סובב: VERB,qal,ptcp,3,m,sg
- סבב: VERB,qal,ptcp,3,m,sg
- הולך: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- הרוח: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- סביבתיו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,sg
- שב: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הרוח: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Eccl.1.7 (structural): Immediate parallel in the same stanza: like the wind's circuit in v.6, v.7 describes waters running in a never‑ending cycle—both illustrate natural, repetitive movement and the book's theme of recurrence.
- Eccl.1.4 (thematic): Both verses articulate the theme of cyclical repetition and futility—generations, sun, wind, and all things persist in an endless round, underscoring vanity and transience.
- Job 37:9-10 (verbal): Elihu (Job 37) speaks of storms from the south and cold from the north and the sending/turning of winds—language closely paralleling the directional movement and divine ordering of winds in Eccl.1:6.
- Job 38:1-11 (thematic): In God's whirlwind speech He describes controlling the sea and the morning and fastening the sea with doors—this divine governance of natural cycles resonates with Qohelet's observation of recurring wind patterns and human inability to alter them.
- Ps.104:3-4 (thematic): Psalm 104 portrays winds as under God's command (winds/angels as his messengers), linking the observable regularity of wind movement in Eccl.1:6 to a theological motif of nature ordered by the divine.
Alternative generated candidates
- The wind goes toward the south and turns toward the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
- The wind blows toward the south and turns toward the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its circuits.
Ecc.1.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כל: DET
- הנחלים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- הלכים: VERB,qal,ptc,.,m,pl
- אל: NEG
- הים: NOUN,m,sg,abs,def
- והים: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,def
- איננו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl,neg
- מלא: ADJ,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- מקום: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שהנחלים: REL+NOUN,m,pl,def
- הלכים: VERB,qal,ptc,.,m,pl
- שם: ADV
- הם: PRON,personal,3,m,pl
- שבים: VERB,qal,ptc,2,m,pl
- ללכת: VERB,qal,inf
Parallels
- Genesis 1:9 (thematic): Creation motif of waters gathered to one place — parallels Ecclesiastes' observation of waters moving into the sea as part of the ordered natural world.
- Genesis 8:2-3 (thematic): After the flood the waters continually receded and returned to their places — echoes the cyclical movement of waters and the return noted in Ecclesiastes.
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (verbal): Wisdom's role at creation includes measuring and setting bounds for the sea; thematically linked to the sea's apparently limitless capacity mentioned in Ecclesiastes.
- Job 38:8-11 (verbal): God's speech about shutting the sea in and setting limits ('Thus far shall you come, and no farther') resonates with the image of rivers flowing into a sea that never fills.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (thematic): Describes waters rising, fleeing at God's rebuke, and God setting boundaries for the sea — similar imagery of vast waters and divinely ordered limits behind Ecclesiastes' natural observation.
Alternative generated candidates
- All the streams run to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they return to flow again.
- All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers run, there they return to run.
Ecc.1.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כל: DET
- הדברים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- יגעים: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- יוכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,ms
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לדבר: INF,qal
- לא: PART_NEG
- תשבע: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- עין: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- לראות: VERB,qal,inf
- ולא: CONJ
- תמלא: VERB,qal,imprf,3,f,sg
- אזן: NOUN,f,sg,cstr
- משמע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 27:20 (verbal): Uses near-identical language about human eyes never being satisfied (’the eyes of man are not satisfied’), a direct verbal parallel to Eccl. 1:8’s ‘eye is not satisfied with seeing.’
- Ecclesiastes 5:10 (thematic): Same theme of human insatiability—‘He who loves money will not be satisfied with money’ echoes the idea that desire (for seeing, hearing, wealth) cannot be satisfied.
- Ecclesiastes 6:7 (verbal): Speaks of futile labor and unsatisfied appetite—‘all a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not filled’—paralleling Eccl. 1:8’s motif of senses/longing that are never satisfied.
- Ecclesiastes 4:8 (verbal): Within Qohelet’s own book: describes a lone man whose ‘eye is not satisfied with riches,’ echoing the exact phrase and theme of unending desire found in 1:8.
Alternative generated candidates
- All things are wearisome; no man can express it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.
- All things are wearisome; a person cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.
Ecc.1.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מה: PRON,int
- שהיה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- שיהיה: CONJ+VERB,qal,yiqtol,3,m,sg
- ומה: CONJ+PRON,int
- שנעשה: CONJ+VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- שיעשה: CONJ+VERB,niphal,yiqtol,3,m,sg
- ואין: CONJ+PART,exist
- כל: DET
- חדש: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- תחת: PREP
- השמש: NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 1:10 (verbal): Direct verbal continuation/echo — the rhetorical question about whether anything can be called new continues the same claim that nothing new exists under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 (verbal): Close verbal parallel — repeats the idea that what has been will be again, reinforcing the book's theme of recurring events.
- Ecclesiastes 1:4 (structural): Structural/thematic parallel within Ecclesiastes — the observation that generations come and go while the earth endures underscores the poem's emphasis on cyclical continuity.
- Isaiah 43:18-19 (thematic): Thematic contrast/allusion — Qoheleth's claim that nothing is new is set against the prophetic promise that God will do a 'new thing,' highlighting a tension between human perception of repetition and divine initiative.
Alternative generated candidates
- What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
- What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecc.1.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- דבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שיאמר: REL+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ראה: VERB,qal,imperat,2,m,sg
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- חדש: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- כבר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- היה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לעלמים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- היה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- מלפננו: PREP+NOUN,abs+SUFF,1,pl
Parallels
- Ecclesiastes 1:9 (verbal): Closely parallel wording and immediate reinforcement within Qoheleth: what has been is what will be — ‘nothing new under the sun.’
- Ecclesiastes 7:10 (thematic): Warnings against longing for 'the old days' and the wisdom-skepticism about novelty echo the book’s theme that apparent newness is illusory.
- Isaiah 43:18-19 (allusion): Contrasts Qoheleth’s claim by affirming God can do a decisive 'new thing' — a theological counterpoint about divine novelty versus human experience of repetition.
- 1 Corinthians 10:11 (thematic): Paul’s use of Israel’s past as authoritative examples for the present parallels Qoheleth’s emphasis that present affairs repeat former events and can be learned from past occurrences.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is there a thing of which one can say, “See, this is new”? It has already been long ago, in the days that preceded us.
- Is there anything of which one says, ‘See, this is new’? It has already existed long ages before us.
Ecc.1.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אין: PART,neg
- זכרון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לראשנים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- וגם: CONJ
- לאחרנים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שיהיו: COMP+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לא: PART_NEG
- יהיה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- להם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- זכרון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עם: PREP
- שיהיו: COMP+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לאחרנה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Eccl.1.4 (structural): Immediate book-level parallel: both verses reflect the cyclical, impersonal continuity of nature and the fleeting, forgettable place of human generations.
- Isaiah 26:14 (verbal): Explicit language about the cessation of life and the perishing of memory—'their memory to perish' echoes Ecclesiastes' claim that former things are not remembered.
- Isaiah 40:6-8 (thematic): Declares human life as grass and stresses transience—like Ecclesiastes, it emphasizes the ephemeral nature of human existence and remembrance.
- Job 14:10-12 (thematic): Describes death as an end with no return and no remembrance, paralleling Ecclesiastes' concern that what was will not be remembered among later generations.
- Psalm 90:5-6 (thematic): Speaks of human life passing like a sleep or grass that withers, underlining the same theme of human transience and the fleetingness of remembrance.
Alternative generated candidates
- There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be remembrance of later things among those who come after.
- There is no remembrance of the former things, nor will there be any remembrance of the later things among those who come after.
The words of Qoheleth, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth; vanity of vanities—everything is vanity.
What profit has man from all his toil with which he toils under the sun?
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth endures forever.
The sun rises, and the sun goes down; it hastens to its place, there it rises.
The wind blows toward the south and turns toward the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
All the streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they return to flow.
All things are wearisome; no one can declare it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one can say, “See, this is new”? Already it was in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be remembrance of later things among those who come after.