Today's passage
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the ...
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all vanity. 3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? 4generation passeth away, and generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. 5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. 6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. 7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. 8All things full of labour; man cannot utter : the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9The thing that hath been, it which shall be; and that which is done that which shall be done: and no new under the sun. 10Is there thing whereof it may be said, See, this new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. 11no remembrance of former ; neither shall there be remembrance of that are to come with that shall come after.
The most surprising book in the Bible opens with existential despair. 'Vanity of vanities—all is vanity.' The Hebrew word hebel means breath, vapor, mist—something insubstantial, fleeting, absurd.
Qoheleth (the Preacher/Teacher) looks at human striving and sees futility. Generations rise and fall while the earth remains indifferent. There is nothing new under the sun. The endless cycles of nature mock human pretensions to significance.
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