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.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- KJV I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- NKJV I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
- NASB I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind.
- NLT I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Having surveyed all human works, he concludes they are vanity and 'a chasing after wind.' Earthly endeavors cannot be grasped or held, like trying to catch the wind.
Overview
The memorable image of chasing wind captures the elusiveness of meaning found in human achievement. Qoheleth's verdict is comprehensive: everything done 'under the sun' fails to deliver lasting profit. This sober realism is not despair but a summons to look upward, finding in God the substance that earthly striving lacks.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 2:11Yet 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.
- Eccl 2:26To 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.
- Eccl 2:17So 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.
- Eccl 6:9Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Eccl 1:17–18So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
- Ps 39:5–6You, 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
- Eccl 4:4I 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.
- 1 Kgs 4:30–32Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 1:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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