Ecclesiastes 1:14
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
- KJV
- I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- WEB
- I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- ASV
- I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.
- DARBY
- I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and pursuit of the wind.
- BLB
- I have seen all the deeds that are done under the sun, and indeed, all [is] vapor and striving after the wind.
- ÅB
- Jeg sa alle de gjerninger som gjøres under solen, og se, alt sammen var tomhet og jag etter vind.
- OTB
- Jeg har sett alt som gjøres under solen; alt er meningsløst og et jag etter vind.
- B1930
- Jeg sa alle de gjerninger som gjøres under solen, og se, alt sammen var tomhet og jag efter vind.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ecclesiastes 2:11
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 2:17
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 6:9
Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Read in contextEcclesiastes 1:17–18
So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
Read in contextPsalms 39:5–6
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
Read in contextEcclesiastes 4:4
I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Read in context1 Kings 4:30–32
Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
Read in context