One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.
Parallel translations
- KJV One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
- BSB Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
- NKJV One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
- NASB A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
- NLT Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.
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
Generations pass away while the earth endures, highlighting human mortality against creation's permanence. It underscores how brief and passing each human life is.
Overview
Qoheleth observes the relentless turnover of human generations contrasted with the enduring earth. This reflects the curse of mortality introduced in Genesis 3 and the brevity of life. Set against this fading backdrop, the believer's hope rests not in earthly permanence but in the resurrection life secured by Christ, the firstfruits of a new creation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 104:5He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.
- Zech 1:5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- Eccl 6:12For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Ps 119:90–91Your faithfulness is to all generations. You have established the earth, and it remains.
- 2 Pet 3:10–13But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
- Ps 89:47–48Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
- Ps 102:24–28I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.
- Gen 5:3–31Adam lived one hundred thirty years, and became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
- Ps 90:9–10For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
- Exod 6:16–27These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years.
- Gen 47:9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
- Gen 36:9–19This is the history of the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir:
- Exod 1:6–7Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.
- Gen 11:20–32Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.
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 1:4 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.