Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 1
Ecclesiastes 1: the Preacher declares that all is vanity
General context
The book opens by naming its speaker as the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. His first words are that all is vanity, and he asks what profit a man has from labour under the sun. Generations pass while the earth stays, the sun rises and sets and hurries back, the wind circles and returns, and rivers run into a sea that is never full. All things are full of labour, the eye and ear are never satisfied, and there is no new thing under the sun; what seems new was already of old time. Former things are not remembered, and things to come will not be remembered either. The Preacher then speaks in his own voice, saying he was king over Israel in Jerusalem and gave his heart to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. He calls this a sore travail God has given to the sons of man, and reports that all the works under the sun are vanity and vexation of spirit. The crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. He says he gained more wisdom than all before him in Jerusalem and set himself to know wisdom, madness and folly, and found this too vexation of spirit, since in much wisdom is much grief.
Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 1:1, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 1:4, Ecclesiastes 1:5, Ecclesiastes 1:6, Ecclesiastes 1:7, Ecclesiastes 1:8, Ecclesiastes 1:9, Ecclesiastes 1:10, Ecclesiastes 1:11, Ecclesiastes 1:12, Ecclesiastes 1:13, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Ecclesiastes 1:15, Ecclesiastes 1:16, Ecclesiastes 1:17, Ecclesiastes 1:18
Ecclesiastes 1 (KJV)
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
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 run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
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 any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
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.
12I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
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.
14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
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.
17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
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Historical context
The text identifies its speaker only by a title and a lineage: the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. The first eleven verses report his words in the third person, and from verse 12 he speaks in the first person, saying he was king over Israel in Jerusalem. The chapter gives no personal name, and the book itself does not name a writer beyond these descriptions, so any identification beyond them comes from outside the text. The self-descriptions are explicit about scope: he says he has gotten more wisdom than all that were before him in Jerusalem and that his heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. The chapter's setting words are general rather than dated: under the sun, under heaven, one generation passing and another coming. No event, reign, war or place other than Jerusalem and Israel is mentioned. What the Preacher searches out is described as concerning all things that are done under heaven, and he names God as the one who gave this travail to the sons of man.
Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 1:1, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:12, Ecclesiastes 1:16, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 1:13, Ecclesiastes 1:4
Literary context
The chapter frames the whole book with a title line and a thesis, vanity of vanities, spoken twice in one verse. A question about profit is answered by a series of images of motion without arrival: generations, sun, wind and rivers all return to where they began, and the sea is not full. The images build to a flat statement that there is no new thing under the sun, and the section ends on forgetting, with no remembrance of former things or of things to come. The second half shifts from third person to first person as the Preacher tests wisdom itself. The phrase vanity and vexation of spirit closes his first report and returns after his attempt to know madness and folly, so that the search for wisdom lands where the survey of nature did. A proverb-like line about the crooked and the wanting sits between the two reports, and the chapter ends on a paired saying that ties wisdom to grief and knowledge to sorrow, setting up the experiments with pleasure and work that follow in chapter 2.
Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:3, Ecclesiastes 1:5, Ecclesiastes 1:7, Ecclesiastes 1:9, Ecclesiastes 1:11, Ecclesiastes 1:12, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Ecclesiastes 1:17, Ecclesiastes 1:15, Ecclesiastes 1:18
Key moments
- The Preacher's thesis (Ecclesiastes 1:2). The Preacher declares that all is vanity.
- Nature's circuits (Ecclesiastes 1:7). Rivers run into a sea that is never full and return to their source.
- Nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). What has been is what will be, and there is no new thing.
- The king's search (Ecclesiastes 1:13). The Preacher gives his heart to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven.
- Wisdom brings grief (Ecclesiastes 1:18). The chapter closes by tying increased knowledge to increased sorrow.
For reflection
The Preacher says the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing, and then reports that gaining more wisdom brought more grief. Is restlessness in this chapter a flaw in the seeker, a feature of the world under the sun, or something the text leaves undecided?
