One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
Parallel translations
- WEB One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.
- 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 104:5Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
- Zech 1:5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
- Eccl 6:12For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- Ps 119:90–91Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.
- 2 Pet 3:10–13But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
- Ps 89:47–48Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Ps 102:24–28I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
- Gen 5:3–31And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
- Ps 90:9–10For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
- Exod 6:16–27And these 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 an hundred thirty and seven years.
- Gen 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- Gen 36:9–19And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:
- Exod 1:6–7And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
- Gen 11:20–32And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat 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.