Vanity of Vanities

The words

1. Crooked

   Wanting means lacking or missing, in the NET note.

   What is crooked cannot be made straight, the Preacher says, pairing it with the observation that what is wanting cannot be numbered.

   Ecclesiastes 1:15 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (opens a new tab)

2. Ecclesiastes

   The book opens with the Preacher’s words, identifying him as a son of David and king in Jerusalem.

   Did you know?

   The NET note traces the English title Ecclesiastes to a Greek term meaning member of the assembly.

   Ecclesiastes 1:1 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (opens a new tab)

3. Folly

   The Preacher says wisdom exceeds folly like light over darkness, yet observes that the wise and foolish alike die.

   Ecclesiastes 2:12–16 (opens a new tab)

4. Generation

   A generation passes and another comes, while the earth abides; the following verses picture the sun, wind and rivers in motion.

   Ecclesiastes 1:4–7 (opens a new tab)

5. Laughter

   In the test of pleasure, the Preacher calls laughter “mad” and asks what mirth accomplishes, questioning the value of the experiment.

   Ecclesiastes 2:1–2 (opens a new tab)

6. Madness

   Madness and folly are rendered foolish behavior and ideas in the NET.

   The Preacher sets out to know wisdom, madness and folly, then describes this pursuit too as vexation of spirit.

   Ecclesiastes 1:17 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (opens a new tab)

7. Mirth

   Pleasure, in the NET’s rendering.

   Mirth is tested and called vanity; later the Preacher also describes enjoying good in work as coming from the hand of God.

   Ecclesiastes 2:1–2 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 2:24 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 (opens a new tab)

8. New Thing

   The Preacher says there is “no new thing under the sun,” then asks whether anything called new has not already existed.

   Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 (opens a new tab)

9. Preacher

   Teacher, in the NET’s rendering.

   The Preacher describes his search through wisdom, surveying works done under the sun before judging them vanity and vexation of spirit.

   Did you know?

   Near the book’s close, the Preacher is also described as teaching knowledge and arranging many proverbs.

   Ecclesiastes 1:12–14 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 12:9–10 (opens a new tab)

10. Profit

    The opening asks what profit comes from labor under the sun; after reviewing his works, the Preacher reports no profit from them.

    Ecclesiastes 1:3 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 2:11 (opens a new tab)

11. Rivers

    The rivers run into a sea that is never full; the verse pictures their returning flow among the chapter’s repeated motions.

    Ecclesiastes 1:6–7 (opens a new tab)

12. Sorrow

    The Preacher pairs much wisdom with much grief, then says that whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow, closing this stage of the inquiry.

    Ecclesiastes 1:17–18 (opens a new tab)

13. Vanity

    Futility, in the NET’s rendering.

    Vanity frames the opening claim and returns after the survey of works, beside vexation of spirit and the question of profit.

    Did you know?

    The NET note traces hevel to breath or vapor, images that help explain the word’s range of figurative senses.

    Ecclesiastes 1:2 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 1:14 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 2:11 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (opens a new tab)

14. Vexation

    Chasing the wind, in the NET’s rendering of the phrase.

    The Preacher calls his survey of work “vanity and vexation of spirit,” placing frustration beside the search for gain.

    Ecclesiastes 1:14 (opens a new tab) · Ecclesiastes 2:11 (opens a new tab) · NET Bible: Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 (opens a new tab)

15. Wind

    The wind turns south and north, whirling continually and returning on its circuits, one of the chapter’s pictures of repeated motion.

    Ecclesiastes 1:6 (opens a new tab)