Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, vanity of vanities: all is vanity.
Leeser Tanakh
In The King James Version
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
In Context
1The words of Koheleth, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem.
3What profit hath a man of all his toil which he toil-eth under the sun?
Cross References
Psalms 39:5(39:6) Behold, measured out with the span hast thou made my days; and my whole duration is nothing before thee: yea, as nothing but vanity doth every man stand here. Selah.
Psalms 144:4Man is like the breath: his days are like a passing shadow.
Ecclesiastes 2:11But when I turned myself [to look] on all my works that my hands had wrought, and on the toil that I had toiled to accomplish: then, behold, all was vanity and a torture of the spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:17Therefore I hated life; because I felt displeased with the work that is wrought under the sun; for all is vanity and a torture of the spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:21For there is many a man whose toil is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and with energy; yet to a man that hath not toiled therefore must he give it as his portion. Also this is vanity and a great evil.
Ecclesiastes 2:26For to a man who is good in his presence [God] giveth wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth employment, to gather up and to bring together, that he may give it to him that is good before God. Also this is vanity and a torture of the spirit.
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 →