Everything Is Futile
1 The words of the Teacher, ,a son of David, king in Jerusalem. b
2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher.
“Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” c
3 What does a person gain for all his efforts
that he labors at under the sun? d
4 A generation goes and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever. e
5 The sun rises and the sun sets;
panting, it returns to the place f
where it rises.
6 Gusting to the south,
turning to the north,
turning, turning, goes the wind, g
and the wind returns in its cycles.
7 All the streams flow to the sea,
yet the sea is never full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
8 All things are wearisome,
more than anyone can say.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing h
or the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Can one say about anything,
“Look, this is new”?
It has already existed in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of those who came before; i
and of those who will come after
there will also be no remembrance
by those who follow them.
The Limitations of Wisdom
12 I, the Teacher, j have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to examine k and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. l God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. m 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind. ,n
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; o
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, p and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.” 17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, q madness and folly; r I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind. s
18 For with much wisdom is much sorrow; t
as knowledge increases, grief increases.
A. Title (1:1). The book begins with a title that attributes these “words” to “the Teacher.” In calling himself this (1:12), “the Teacher” may be emphasizing his role as sage rather than as ruler. It is clear from the royal activities and achievements noted in chapters 1–2 that the book sets forth the wisdom of Solomon—rather than a later monarch (“son of David”)—whether as the originator of its teachings or as a literary voice for a later author (see “Title, Authorship, and Date” in the introduction to Ecclesiastes).
B. Theme verse: Everything is ephemeral (1:2). How one understands the Hebrew word hebel, which occurs five times in this verse, largely determines how one characterizes the basic message of the book. The repetition of the word here (literally “futility of futilities”) is emphatic, similar to “Song of Songs” and “holy of holies,” and is represented as “absolute futility” (repeated in 12:8). Like a breath or a vapor, all human achievements are temporary and so can seem futile or even senseless (see the article “Everything Is Futile!” in the introduction to Ecclesiastes).
C. Goal of the investigation (1:3–11). 1:3. The main body of the book is bracketed by Solomon’s foundational assessment of life (1:3 and 12:8). The phrase “under the sun” appears only in Ecclesiastes (twenty-nine times, with the variants “see the sun” [6:5; 7:11; 11:7] and “under heaven” [1:13; 2:3; 3:1]). It designates the earthly realm of existence and activity as humans experience and view it apart from divine revelation regarding the final judgment and the eternal dimension. The Teacher largely restricts himself to this “under the sun” perspective, while not denying that the other exists.
1:4–11. These verses offer a poetic overview and suggest the provisional answer that little or nothing is gained. In nature, despite the relative permanence of the earth (1:4), one observes constant movement. But there is no progress, as the sun (1:5; cf. Ps 19:4–6), wind (1:6), and rivers (1:7) repeatedly run the same courses. In the human senses (1:8), there is effort without satisfaction. In human activity, nothing fundamentally new is done or discovered, despite claims to the contrary (1:9–10). Even the memory of the proudest achievements of past generations (cf. 1:4a) will soon fade (1:11).
1:12–15. The opening summary (1:12–18) exhibits a parallel structure, as the Teacher sets forth his qualifications (1:12, 16), purpose (1:13a, 17a), conclusions (1:13b–14, 17b), and an explanatory saying (1:15, 18). His first qualification—that he ruled (all) Israel in Jerusalem (1:12)—applies only to David and Solomon. Ecclesiastes 1:13 emphasizes his single-minded effort (also 1:17; 8:9, 16) to examine human activities in depth and breadth, despite their unpleasant nature. Surprisingly, for reasons to be explained in chapter 2, all these activities appear to be as “futile” (Hb hebel) as “a pursuit of the wind” (1:14; also 1:17; 2:11, 17, 26; 4:4, 6, 16; 6:9; cf. 5:16; 8:8), and capturing the wind is as impossible as restoring what has been damaged or counting what is not there (1:15; cf. 7:13).
1:16–18. Solomon was reputedly the wisest individual (1 Kg 10:7) and was thus uniquely qualified to assess wisdom’s worth (1:16). Some interpreters have taken “far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me” (cf. 2:9) as pointing to a later Davidic king as speaker, since Solomon had only David as his predecessor, but the postexilic author of 1 Ch 29:25 makes a strikingly similar assertion regarding Solomon. Although the Teacher seeks to understand wisdom better by studying its opposites, “madness and folly” (1:17), wisdom itself is a mixed blessing, as increased wisdom and knowledge are accompanied by increased vexation and pain (1:18).