1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens to the place where it rises.
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
12 I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I applied my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Ecclesiastes is the writings of the “the Preacher” typically believed to be Solomon, son of David, king of Israel in Jerusalem.
When he speaks of vanity, he is speaking of something fleeting or elusive or even meaningless. Life seems to be full of chasing after something that can’t really be achieved. What does a man really gain for all he does here on earth? Generation follows generation but the earth just keeps on going. The sun rises and sets and just goes round to rise again. The wind blows to the south but just seems to go round to come back from the north again. Streams run to the sea but no matter how much they flow, the level of the sea never rises. Even what we do as people is not really new. We might build bigger cities, but they’re still just dwelling places. We might build cars and then planes but they still just move people. We strive and yet have to keep on striving.
Solomon was given great wisdom and the position of king and set himself to study all manner of human activity and discovered that in itself all activity is just like chasing the wind—meaningless. No matter how hard we try, the crooked cannot be made straight. What is deficient in life always remains deficient. Even with great wisdom Solomon realised that he had no real advantage over madness and folly. Even the pursuit of wisdom is like chasing the wind.
This book can seem incredibly depressing as it starts. If everything is just a repetition of what came before, what are we doing here? Where is life’s purpose? As you consider your own life, is it meaningless, a pursuit of the wind that you’ll never catch? If not, why not? Keep that in mind as we work through Ecclesiastes.