The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
Parallel translations
- WEB The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually as it goes, and the wind returns again to its courses.
- KJV The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
- NKJV The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.
- NASB Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.
- NLT The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.
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 wind blows in circuits, turning and returning without ceasing. Like the sun, it depicts endless motion that arrives at no resting place.
Overview
The wind's circular wandering continues the theme of nature's repetitive, seemingly purposeless activity. The vivid repetition mirrors human striving that goes round and round 'under the sun.' These cycles testify to a creation 'subjected to futility' (Romans 8:20), groaning for the liberation that comes through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- John 3:8The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- Eccl 11:5As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
- Ps 107:29He calmed the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
- Job 37:9The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.
- Ps 107:25For He spoke and raised a tempest that lifted the waves of the sea.
- Job 37:17You whose clothes get hot when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
- Jonah 1:4Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.
- Matt 7:27The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”
- Matt 7:24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Acts 27:13–15When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 1:6 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.