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The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 1 :: Amplified Bible (AMP)

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The Futility of All Endeavors

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:1 -

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

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:2

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“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher.

“Vanity of vanities! All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity [futile, meaningless—a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes, merely chasing the wind].”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:3

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What advantage does man have from all his work

Which he does [fn]under the sun (while earthbound)?

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:4

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One generation goes and another generation comes,

But the earth remains forever.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:5

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Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;

And hurries to the place where it rises again.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:6

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The wind blows toward the south,

Then circles toward the north;

The wind circles and swirls endlessly,

And on its circular course the wind returns.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:7

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All the rivers flow into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full.

To the place where the rivers flow,

There they flow again.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:8

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All things are wearisome and all words are frail;

Man cannot express it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing,

Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:9

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That which has been is that which will be [again],

And that which has been done is that which will be done again.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:10 -

Is there anything of which it can be said,

“See this, it is new”?

It has already existed for [the vast] ages [of time recorded or unrecorded]

Which were before us.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:11

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There is no remembrance of earlier things,

Nor also of the later things that are to come;

There will be for them no remembrance

By generations who will come after them.

The Futility of Wisdom

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:12 -

I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:13 - And I set my mind to seek and explore by [man’s] [fn]wisdom all [human activity] that has been done under heaven. It is a miserable business and a burdensome task which [fn]God has given the sons of men with which to be busy and distressed.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:14 - I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:15 - What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:16 -

I spoke with my heart, saying, “Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom and experience, more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:17 - And I set my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I realized that this too is a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:18 - For in much [human] wisdom there is much displeasure and exasperation; increasing knowledge increases sorrow.
See the AMP Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
AMP Footnotes
Ecclesiastes expresses the view of the natural man whose interests are focused on vanishing pleasures and empty satisfactions. The natural man is not aware that all the answers to life are found in God. The natural man grovels in the earth and seeks and finds that which is futile and temporary while the spiritual man soars on wings of eagles (Is 40:31) and seeks and finds righteousness and God’s incomparable and everlasting blessings and companionship.
The “wisdom” of Proverbs is not the “wisdom” of Ecclesiastes. The former is godly wisdom; the latter is usually human wisdom.
Heb Elohim: mighty, creator, ruler of man and nature.
AMP

Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by

The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631 All rights reserved.

For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras