Ecclesiastes 1:2
Hevel havalim, saith Kohelet, 1 hevel havalim, all is hevel. 1
Orthodox Jewish Bible
In The King James Version
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
In Context
1Divrei Kohelet, Ben Dovid, Melech in Yerushalayim. 1
3What profit hath a man from all his amal (toil) 1 which he hath toiled under the shemesh? 1
Cross References
Psalms 39:5Hashem, make me to know mine end, 1 and the measure of my yamim, what it is; 1 that I may have da'as of how chadel (fleeting, frail) I am. 1
Psalms 144:4Adam is like hevel; 1 his days are as a tzel that passeth away. 1
Ecclesiastes 2:11Then I looked on kol ma'asim that my hands had wrought, and on the amal that I had labored to do; and, hinei, all was hevel and chasing after ruach, and there was no profit under the shemesh.
Ecclesiastes 2:17Therefore I hated HaChayyim (Life); because the ma'aseh that is wrought under the shemesh is grievous unto me; for all is hevel and chasing after ruach.
Ecclesiastes 2:21For there is an adam whose amal is with chochmah, and da'as, and kishron (skill); yet to an adam that hath not worked for it he must leave it for his chelek. This also is hevel and a ra'ah rabbah.
Ecclesiastes 2:26For to the adam that is pleasing in His sight, Hashem gives chochmah, and da'as, and simchah; but to the choteh (sinner) Hashem giveth travail; Hashem giveth the work of gathering and storing up, that Hashem may give to him that pleases HaElohim. This also is hevel and chasing after ruach.
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 →