Ecclesiastes 1

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

All these earthly things, all that a man can either do or attain, is utterly vain and ineffectual, in respect of any true and perfect contentment or happiness, which it can yield to the soul; since it is both fickle in the continuance, and unsatisfying in the nature and worth thereof.

Ecclesiastes 1:3

What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

So far is all the labour of man, which he takes here on earth, unable to make him truly happy, as that it yieldeth him no during profit at all: both he and it are swept away by death, as if they had never been.

Ecclesiastes 1:4

One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

There is no stability here: one generation of men goeth, another comes, none stayeth; while yet the earth, the basest of all elements, and that from whence we received this corruptible substance, continueth in her wonted estate, and abides to the end of the world. I. 5, 6. The sun also ariseth, &c. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth, &c. All things are in motion: the sun and the wind whirl about the earth, and return around, after their circuiting, to the very place whence they began their course.

Ecclesiastes 1:7

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place whence the rivers come, thither they return again.

So do the waters also keep the same course of motion; for all rivers run into the sea, which again empties itself, by secret conveyances, through the channels of the earth, into those springs whereof the rivers arise; so as there is a continued circle in the movings and interchanges of these creatures; but man passeth away at once, and appeareth no more.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

The eye and the ear can never come to an end of their work; for there is still an interchangeable succession of their objects: that, which hath formerly been, shall be again; and that, which now is done, shall, in the revolution of times, come about again; and there is neither an end of old occurrences, nor a beginning of new.

Ecclesiastes 1:11

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after them.

We easily mistake the condition of all things; for those things, which have been, leave no remembrance behind them; and those things, which are now present, and those, which shall be hereafter, shall be so forgotten of our succeeding posterity, as if they had never been.

Ecclesiastes 1:15

That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.

That, which is crooked and perverse, cannot by any human means be rectified and reformed: only the power of God, who made all things, can change the natural misdisposition of them; and there are such store of defects and enormities, both in nature and practice, that they cannot be numbered.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly.

I addicted myself moreover to the disquisition and study of morality; and, therein, I did not only labour to know what pertained to wisdom, but also, on the contrary, to understand what belongs to folly and madness, that I may perfectly comprehend all the fashions and courses of men; and I found this to be no better than vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 1:18

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.

For whosoever gets much wisdom, shall be sure to have much sorrow to boot; since, the more he knows, the more cause of grief shall he find; for both he shall still see more that he cannot know, and in that which he doth know he shall perceive so much vanity that shall pierce and humble his soul.