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New Testament
Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes, the English title of this book, is derived from the Greek name for the book. The word Ecclesiastes is not a personal name like Solomon or David, but a title given to a person who gathers together a group of people to speak to them. Possible translations include the teacher, the preacher, the assembly leader, the after-dinner speaker, or the keynote speaker. Since none of these renderings convey the whole meaning of this title, the EHV retains Ecclesiastes, the title that was chosen to serve as the name of this book in the English Bible.
The book is a talk given by Ecclesiastes to an assembly of colleagues, perhaps young trainees for government service.
Information given in the book enables us to identify Ecclesiastes, the speaker, as King Solomon. In English literature about the book, the speaker is sometimes also referred to by the Hebrew form of this title, namely, Qoheleth.
The book was written in the 10th century BC. As is often the case in wisdom literature, the speaker wrestles with a number of false answers to the problem of life in a fallen world before he arrives at the true conclusion.
The Heading
The Problem
3What does anyone gain by all his hard work, at which he works hard under the sun? 4A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever. 5The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again. 6The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles. 7All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.
8Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.
9Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us. 11No one remembers the people who[] came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.
Search for a Solution
12I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky.[] (What a burdensome task[] God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!) 14I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind. 15Whatever is crooked cannot be straightened. Whatever is not there cannot be counted.
16I thought in my heart, “Look, I have become great and accumulated more wisdom than anyone ruling over Jerusalem before me. My mind[] has absorbed so much wisdom and knowledge.” 17I applied my heart to understand wisdom and knowledge, madness and stupidity. I realized that this too is chasing the wind. 18In fact, with much wisdom comes much frustration.[] The more knowledge, the more pain!
Footnotes
- 1:1 See the introduction on the origin and meaning of the name Ecclesiastes.
- 1:2 Other possible translations are mist, breath, futility, or emptiness. Since vapor does not last, it serves as an appropriate symbol for everything that is transient, futile, or useless.
- 1:11 Or the events that
- 1:13 Or the heavens
- 1:13 Or rotten business
- 1:16 Literally heart. In Hebrew thought, the heart is the center not only of emotion but also of the intellect.
- 1:18 Or grief