Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.
JPS TaNaKH 1917
In The King James Version
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
In Context
1THE WORDS OF the Koheleth, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
3What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?
Cross References
Psalms 39:5(39-6) Behold, Thou hast made my days as hand-breadths; and mine age is as nothing before Thee; surely every man at his best estate is altogether vanity. Selah
Psalms 144:4Man is like unto a breath; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
Ecclesiastes 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 a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:17So I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous unto me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:21For there is a man whose labour is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skill; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.
Ecclesiastes 2:26For to the man that is good in His sight He giveth wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He giveth the task, to gather and to heap up, that he may leave to him that is good in the sight of God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
Ecclesiastes We are still among Solomon's happy men, his happy servants, that stood continually before him to hear his wisdom; and they are the choicest of all the dictates of his wisdom, such as were more immediately given by divine inspiration, that are here transmitted to us, not to be heard, as by them, but once, and then liable to be mistaken or forgotten, and by repetition to lose their beauty, but to be read, reviewed, revolved, and had in everlasting remembrance. The account we have of Solomon's apostasy… Read the whole commentary →