Ecclesiastes 1

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6][lower-alpha 1] Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls: 4QQoh^b (4Q110; 30 BC – 30 AD; extant verses 8–15).[8][9][10]

A page containing Ecclesiastes 1:1–5:17 from Codex Gigas, Latin translation of 13th century.

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; ${\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}}$^A; 5th century).[11] The Greek text is probably derived from the work of Aquila of Sinope or his followers.[3]

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.[12]

• "Preacher": "Convener" or "Collector"; Hebrew: קהלת, Qoheleth[13] (so throughout Ecclesiastes),[14] meaning simply "teacher" (a Hebrew participle).[15] Its verbal root qahal means 'to assemble'.[16]
• "The son of David, king in Jerusalem" may refer to any king in the line of David ("Davidic King").[16][3] This is picked up in Ecclesiastes 1:12, which states that he ruled "Israel" from Jerusalem; if "Israel" is meant to include the Northern Kingdom of Israel, then the only descendants of David to rule it were Solomon or his son, the 'far-from-wise Rehoboam'.[3][lower-alpha 2] From the further descriptions in chapter 1 and 2 clearly "Qoheleth" refers to Solomon, although the name 'Solomon' is avoided, not explicitly claimed as in Song 1:1 or Proverbs 1:1.[16]

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity.[18]

The Lexham English Bible calls this verse the preacher's "motto".[19] The motto appears again at the end of his teaching in Ecclesiastes 12:8.[3] "Vanity", the key term of this book,[3] translates the Hebrew term הבל, hebel,[20] meaning "vanity" or "vain", concretely referring to a "mist", "vapor", or "mere breath", and metaphorically to 'something that is fleeting or elusive' (with different nuances depending on the context).[21] It can also be translated as 'Absurdity, Frustration, Futility, Nonsense'.[22] The word appears five times in this verse alone and is found in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes.[21]

"Vanity of vanities" reflects the Hebrew: הבל הבלים (habel habalim).[20]

What profit has a man from all his labor

In which he toils under the sun?[23]

This rhetorical question follows the claim of "vanity" and is followed by the portrayal of a world 'impervious to human effort.'[3]

• "Profit" (ESV: "gain"; Hebrew: יתרון, yithron,[24]): a term used in (ancient) commerce.[25]
• Both the noun "labor" and the verb "toil" come from the Hebrew root word amal (עמל, as noun or verb[24]) which may refer to 'physical effort' (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:4–8; Psalm 127:1) or to 'mental and emotional heaviness' (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:3; Psalm 25:18).[25]

Verse 9 contains the well-known saying, "there is nothing new under the sun".

There is no remembrance of former things,

Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come

By those who will come after.[26]

"So ends the prologue of the book, sounding its terrible sentence of despair on life and all its interests."[27] Edward Plumptre argues that "former things" and "things ... to come" should be translated as "former men" and "those that shall come after".[27] The New International Version translates this verse as "No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them".[28]

I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.[29]

The King James Version of this verse reads "I gave my heart ...",[30] words "expressive of the spirit of an earnest seeker, [and] eminently characteristic of this book".[27] In Hebrew thought, the heart is the seat of life, or emotion, but also the seat of reason.[27]

For in much wisdom is much grief,

And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow[31]

The Teacher (Qoheleth) pessimistically concludes that wisdom and knowledge only enhance 'vexation and sorrow'.[32]