Ecclesiastes 1:13
By being wise, I concentrated on understanding everything that was being done on the earth [MTY]. But I found out that God causes all of us to experience things that cause us to be unhappy/miserable.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
In Context
12I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel for many years, ruling in Jerusalem.
Cross References
Genesis 3:19All your life you will sweat as you work hard to produce food to eat. Then you will die [EUP], and your body will be buried in the ground. I made you from soil, so when you die and are buried your body will decay and become soil again.”
Proverbs 2:2Pay attention to wisdom and try hard to understand it.
Proverbs 18:1Those who separate themselves from other people think only about those things that they are interested in; if they would continually associate with those who have good judgment/sense, they would constantly disagree/quarrel with them.
Proverbs 23:26My son, heed what I say to you, and allow what I do to be an example for you.
Ecclesiastes 1:17So I determined to learn more about being wise and to learn about knowing about many things, and also to learn about doing things that are very foolish [DOU]. But I found out that trying to understand those things was also useless, like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:26God enables those who please him to be wise, to know many things, and to enjoy many things. But if sinful people work hard and become rich, God can take their money away from them and give it to those who please him. But that also is something that is difficult for me to understand. Their working hard seems useless, like chasing the wind.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 1:13-18
Vanity of Human Wisdom. 12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. 14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15 That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16 I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am… Read the whole commentary →