I observed yet another example of something meaningless under the sun.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun.
- KJV Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun.
- BSB Again, I saw futility under the sun.
- NKJV Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:
- NASB Then I looked again at futility under the sun.
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 Preacher turns to observe yet another example of life's emptiness 'under the sun.' It matters as a deliberate setup for the case study that follows about the lonely, driven man.
Overview
This brief verse functions as a transition, marking a fresh observation in Ecclesiastes' running meditation on 'vanity' (Hebrew hevel, fleeting breath). 'Under the sun' signals the limited, earthbound vantage point from which life looks futile apart from God. The Preacher's honest naming of meaninglessness presses readers toward the fuller hope found beyond the sun, ultimately in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Eccl 4:1Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
- Zech 1:6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”
- Ps 78:33Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.
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 4:7 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.