The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to its place where it rises.
- BSB The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
- NKJV The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.
- NASB Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hurrying to its place it rises there again.
- NLT The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.
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
The sun rises, sets, and hurries back to rise again in a ceaseless cycle. It pictures nature's tireless, repetitive motion that never reaches a final goal.
Overview
Using the sun's daily circuit, the Preacher illustrates the wearying monotony of the created order. The repetition suggests constant activity without apparent progress or rest. Such observations expose the limits of a world locked in cycles, while Scripture as a whole points beyond the cycle to God's purposeful direction of history toward redemption.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 42:1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
- Hab 3:11The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
- Ps 19:4–6Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
- Josh 10:13–14And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
- Gen 8:22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
- Ps 89:36–37His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.
- Ps 104:19–23He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
- Jer 33:20Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
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 1:5 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.