Ecclesiastes 1:6-7

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ecclesiastes 1:5-7

Science does not answer these questions either.People’s work is similar to the aspects of nature cited in these verses. In nature there are many things that recur in a cyclical pattern. They are never complete. For example, we never have a rainstorm that makes it unnecessary to have any more rainstorms (cf. Job 36:27-28). Our work is never complete in the sense that we never finally arrive at a condition in which no more work is necessary. There is always the need to do more work. Any homeowner... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

All is Vanity1-11. The writer describes himself. He declares that all things are transitory and without result, whether they be the works or the life of man, or the natural forces of heat, air, and water. Language cannot do justice to nature’s wearisome sameness. The oblivion which overtakes all.1. Preacher] see Intro. §§ 1, 2.2. Vanity of vanities] lit.’breath of breaths’; the form of expression being a Hebrew way of indicating the superlative degree. Of all fleeting things existence is the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 1:3-11

(3-11) Man is perpetually toiling, yet of all his toil there remains no abiding result. The natural world exhibits a spectacle of unceasing activity, with no real progress. The sun, the winds, the waters, are all in motion, yet they do but run a round, and nothing comes of it. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 1:6

(6) The order of the Hebrew words permits the first clause, “going towards the south and returning towards the north,” to be understood in continuation of the description of the movements of the sun, and so some interpreters have taken them, but probably erroneously. The verse gains in liveliness if more literally rendered, “going towards the south and circling towards the north, circling, circling goes the wind, and to its circles the wind returns.” read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ecclesiastes 1:7

(7) Whence the rivers come.—Better, whither the rivers go. (Comp. Sir. 40:11.) read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

The Verdict of Life Ecclesiastes 1:2 The verdict of this book seems to be no hasty verdict, but a settled, deliberate conclusion. It is not due to a temporary fit of depression, or some passing adverse circumstance, but it seems the result of experience arrived at after mature thought. And there are plenty Today who have arrived at the same conclusion. All is vanity. Life is hard and cruel and disappointing, and not worth the living. They tell you it is a weary struggle in which most fail.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

THE PROLOGUEIn Which The Problem Of The Book Is Indirectly Stated Ecclesiastes 1:1-11THE search for the summum bonum, the quest of the Chief Good, is the theme of the book Ecclesiastes. Naturally we look to find this theme, this problem, this "riddle of the painful earth," distinctly stated in the opening verses of the Book. It is stated, but not distinctly. For the Book is an autobiographical poem, the journal of the Preacher’s inward life set forth in a dramatic form. "A man of ripe wisdom... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

Analysis and Annotations PART I. CHAPTERS 1-6 1. The Prologue and the Search Begun CHAPTER 1 1. The introduction and prologue (Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 ) 2. The seeker; his method and the results (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 ) Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 . In the general introduction we have already referred to the opening verses as giving the information who the author is and what is the object of his treatise. So sure is the critical school that Solomon is not the king mentioned that one says “the fact... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:6

1:6 The {e} wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about to the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to its circuits.(e) By the sun, wind and rivers, he shows that the greatest labour and longest has an end, and therefore there can be no happiness in this world. read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Ecclesiastes 1:7

1:7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea [is] not full; to the place from {f} which the rivers come, there they return again.(f) The sea which compasses all the earth, fills the veins of it which pour out springs and rivers into the sea again. read more

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