The Teacher Speaks
1 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. a a v1 Ecclesiastes is the testament of Qoheleth — 'the Preacher' or 'the One who gathers an assembly.' Throughout the book Qoheleth speaks of God in distant-deity register, never reaching for the relational name 'Father.' The book preserves the honest exhaustion of life lived 'under the sun' — without our Father's revealed nearness. Jesus comes to bring the Father near (John 14:9). 2 "Utterly fleeting," says the Teacher, "utterly fleeting! Everything is fleeting. b b v2 hevel ('fleeting') is literally 'vapor, breath' — fleeting, hard to grasp.
3 What does a person gain from all the labor at which they toil under the sun? 4 A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to the place where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its circuits. 7 All the streams run to the sea, yet the sea is never full; the streams return to their source and flow again. 8 All things are wearisome, more than anyone can express; 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; there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything anyone can point to and say, "Look, this is new "? It was already here, in the ages before us. 11 There is no remembrance of those who came before, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Solomon's Search
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I set myself to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is a heavy burden God has given to the children of man to deal with. 14 I have seen all the deeds that are done under the sun, and look — it is all fleeting, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said to myself, "Look, I have grown great and increased in wisdom beyond all who ruled over Jerusalem before me; my heart has known much wisdom and knowledge." 17 So I set myself to know wisdom, and also madness and folly; I learned that this too is a chasing after the wind. 18 For with much wisdom comes much grief, and the more knowledge, the more sorrow.