Ecclesiastes 1:2 Parallel Translations

Psalm 39:5 "Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.

Psalm 39:6 "Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.

Psalm 62:9 Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath.

Psalm 144:4 Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!"

Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (NASB ©1995)

Commentaries and Concordances

GSB:

1:2 {b} Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all [is] vanity.
(b) He condemns the opinions of all men who set happiness in anything but in God alone, seeing that in this world all things are as vanity and nothing.

WES:

1:2 Vanity - Not only vain, but vanity in the abstract, which denotes extreme vanity. Saith - Upon deep consideration and long experience, and by Divine inspiration. This verse contains the general proposition, which he intends particularly to demonstrate in the following book. All - All worldly things. Is vanity - Not in themselves for they are God's creatures and therefore good in their kinds, but in reference to that happiness, which men seek and expect to find in them. So they are unquestionably vain, because they are not what they seem to be, and perform not what they promise, but instead of that are the occasions of innumerable cares, and fears, and sorrows, and mischiefs. Nay, they are not only vanity but vanity of vanities, the vainest vanity, vanity in the highest degree. And this is redoubled, because the thing is certain, beyond all possibility of dispute.

MHC:

1:1-3 Much is to be learned by comparing one part of Scripture with another. We here behold Solomon returning from the broken and empty cisterns of the world, to the Fountain of living water; recording his own folly and shame, the bitterness of his disappointment, and the lessons he had learned. Those that have taken warning to turn and live, should warn others not to go on and die. He does not merely say all things are vain, but that they are vanity. VANITY OF VANITIES, ALL IS VANITY. This is the text of the preacher's sermon, of which in this book he never loses sight. If this world, in its present state, were all, it would not be worth living for; and the wealth and pleasure of this world, if we had ever so much, are not enough to make us happy. What profit has a man of all his labour? All he gets by it will not supply the wants of the soul, nor satisfy its desires; will not atone for the sins of the soul, nor hinder the loss of it: what profit will the wealth of the world be to the soul in death, in judgment, or in the everlasting state?

CONC:

Koheleth Meaningless Preacher Purpose Says Teacher Utterly Vanities Vanity

Koheleth Meaningless Preacher Purpose Teacher Utterly Vanities Vanity Ways Whole

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