Ecclesiastes 1

World English Bible 84 include this book

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 from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

4 One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.

6 The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses.

7 All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.

8 All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there a thing of which it may be said, “Behold, this is new”? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us.

11 There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

15 That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted.

16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have obtained for myself great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yes, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.”

17 I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Go deeper in Ecclesiastes

Go deeper in Ecclesiastes on Amazon

1 place named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Jerusalem traditional Presented as the reflection of a king in Jerusalem.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 970 BC–931 BC Solomon
Ascribed to Solomon by the text's own superscription.
Critical: 450 BC–200 BC Anonymous
Language and vocabulary, including Persian and possibly Greek influence, point to a much later composition.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (970 BC–200 BC).

1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.
1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
1050 BC–800 BC The Phoenician alphabet spreads Levant
A compact consonantal alphabet that became the ancestor of Greek, Latin and Hebrew scripts.
776 BC First recorded Olympiad Greece
The traditional starting point of Greek historical chronology.
753 BC Traditional founding of Rome Rome
The legendary date of Rome's founding, later used as the anchor of the Roman calendar.
745 BC–609 BC Neo-Assyrian empire at its height Mesopotamia
Assyria dominated the Near East, deporting conquered populations as policy, including the northern kingdom of Israel.
620 BC–560 BC Coinage invented in Lydia Anatolia
Stamped electrum coins of guaranteed weight, an idea that spread across the ancient world within a century.

Select a verse number to compare it across every translation.