“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.”

“‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher,
‘Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.’”

“What advantage does a person have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.”

“Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hurrying to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.”

“All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.”

“All things are wearisome;
No one can tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.”

“What has been is what will be,
And what has been done is what will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
‘See this, it is new’?
It has already existed for ages
Which were before us.”

“There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And of the later things as well,
Which will occur,
There will be no remembrance among those
Who will come later still.”

“I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom
all that has been done under heaven.
It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of mankind
with which to be troubled.”

“I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun,
And behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.”

“What is crooked cannot be straightened,
And what is lacking cannot be counted.”

“I said to myself, ‘Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom
more than all who were over Jerusalem before me;
and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.’”

“And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly;
I realized that this also is striving after wind.
Because in much wisdom there is much grief;
and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.”

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Context and Meaning

Ecclesiastes 1 hits with disarming honesty.
Solomon — now an old man — looks back over a life of:

• wealth
• pleasure
• achievement
• fame
• learning
• power

…and declares it all “vanity.”
The Hebrew word is hevel — meaning vapor, breath, smoke, mist, something you can see but cannot grasp.

The chapter introduces the book’s haunting refrain:

“Under the sun.”
Meaning: life lived apart from God’s eternal perspective, life viewed strictly from the human vantage point of time-bound existence.

Solomon’s message:
When you remove God from the equation, nothing under the sun can carry the weight of your meaning.

Key Themes:

1. Life’s Cycles Feel Empty: Nature moves, but nothing truly changes (v. 4–7).
2. Human Desire Never Satisfied: Eyes and ears remain hungry (v. 8).
3. History Repeats: Nothing is truly new (v. 9–11).
4. Wisdom Cannot Fix What Sin Has Broken: What is crooked cannot be straightened (v. 15).
5. Greater Wisdom Brings Greater Sorrow: Insight increases grief (v. 18).
6. Life Without God Is Vapor: Achievements cannot fill the soul or last forever (v. 2, 14).

Reflection and Impact

Ecclesiastes 1 forces us to confront the deep ache that many try to silence:

• The cycles of life grow weary – matches Romans 8:20–22: creation groans in futility.
• Desire is never satisfied – parallels Proverbs 27:20: the eyes of man are never satisfied.
• Nothing new under the sun – anticipates Acts 17:21: always seeking something new, never finding truth.
• Human effort cannot solve human brokenness – aligns with Jeremiah 13:23: can the leopard change its spots?
• Wisdom reveals pain – reflected in Luke 19:41: Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.
• Life without God is vapor – fulfilled in Mark 8:36: what does it profit a man to gain the whole world?

Ecclesiastes does not drag us into despair;
it drags our idols there.
It shows the bankruptcy of meaning without God so that we will stop chasing wind.

Application

• Stop Chasing Wind: Success, pleasure, achievement — none can bear the weight of your soul.
• Acknowledge the Futility of Life Without God: Ecclesiastes confronts us with reality before it comforts us with hope.
• Let God Interpret Your Life: Meaning doesn’t flow from what you accomplish, but from the One who made you.
• Embrace Honest Lament: God is not threatened by your ache, your confusion, or your weariness.
• Let Dissatisfaction Lead You to Christ: Only He gives rest (Matthew 11:28).
• Remember Eternity: Life under the sun is vapor — but life with God is eternal glory.

Closing Thought

Ecclesiastes 1 is not the voice of despair.
It is the voice of a man finally done pretending that life without God can satisfy.

It is the doorway into a spiritual journey that dismantles pride, exposes illusions, and drives the heart toward reverent awe.

“All is vanity and striving after wind.”
Not because nothing matters —
but because only God makes anything matter.