And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.
Parallel translations
- WEB I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.
- BSB So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
- NKJV And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
- NASB And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
- NLT So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is 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
He pursued both wisdom and folly, only to find this too was chasing the wind. Even the study of wisdom itself cannot secure lasting fulfillment.
Overview
Qoheleth widens his investigation to include madness and folly alongside wisdom. His sobering finding is that the very pursuit of understanding remains elusive and unsatisfying 'under the sun.' This humbling discovery points beyond human wisdom to Christ, in whom 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' are hidden (Colossians 2:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Eccl 2:3I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
- 1 Th 5:21Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
- Eccl 1:13–14And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith.
- Eccl 7:23–25All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
- Eccl 2:10–12And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.
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 1:17 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.