All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Parallel translations
- WEB All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
- BSB All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.
- NKJV All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.
- NASB All things are wearisome; No one can tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
- NLT Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
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
All things are wearisome, and the eye and ear are never satisfied. Human desire is restless and cannot be filled by what this world offers.
Overview
Qoheleth moves from nature's monotony to human experience, noting that our senses crave endlessly yet are never content. This insatiability exposes a deep dissatisfaction built into life apart from God. It anticipates Jesus' promise that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and who come to Him, will be filled and satisfied.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Prov 27:20Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- Matt 11:28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
- Eccl 4:8There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
- Prov 30:15–16The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
- Eccl 4:1–4So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
- Eccl 5:10–11He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
- Rom 8:22–23For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
- Eccl 7:24–26That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
- Eccl 2:11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Eccl 2:26For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Matt 5:6Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
- Rev 7:16–17They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
- Ps 63:5My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
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 1:8 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.