Ecclesiastes 1:14

Modern

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

Traditional

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Literal

I have seen all the deeds that are done under the sun, and indeed, all is vapor and striving after the wind.

Latin

Vidi cuncta quæ fiunt sub sole, et ecce universa vanitas et afflictio spiritus.

Hebrew

English

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

a pursuit of the wind.: Life comes and goes quickly, just like the wind.

The Teacher examines how wisdom, work, and pleasure relate to each other.

Ecclesiastes 2:11
Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:17
So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes 6:9
Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Psalm 39:5–6
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
Ecclesiastes 4:4
I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:17–18
So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
1 Kings 4:30–32
Solomon’s wisdom was greater than that of all the men of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.