ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Ecclesiastes 1.1-2
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Passage

Ecclesiastes 1.1-2

Book: Ecclesiastes · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

  1. What profit hath man of all his labor wherein he laboreth under the sun? 4. One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, ASV)
WEB

1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2. “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

  1. What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? 4. One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, WEB)
KJV

1. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

  1. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? 4. One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, KJV)
YLT

1. Words of a preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2. Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, Vanity of vanities: the whole [is] vanity.

  1. What advantage [is] to man by all his labour that he laboureth at under the sun? 4. A generation is going, and a generation is coming, and the earth to the age is standing. (Ecclesiastes 1:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Qohelet, "the Preacher" (Ecclesiastes 1:1), traditionally Solomon
  • Audience: readers of Israel's wisdom tradition weighing life "under the sun"
  • Location: Jerusalem, where the Preacher "was king over Israel" (Ecclesiastes 1:12)
  • Time period: traditionally c. 970-930 BC (Solomon's reign); many scholars date the book later, c. 450-200 BC

Theological reading

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2, KJV).

The theme stated first. "Vanity" translates the Hebrew hebel, literally a vapor or breath: something real but fleeting, which cannot be grasped or kept. "Vanity of vanities" is the Hebrew way of forming a superlative, like "holy of holies": the most fleeting thing of all. The Greek Old Testament renders it mataiotēs mataiotētōn, and Paul uses the same word when he says creation "was made subject to vanity" (Romans 8:20).

A verdict with a limit. The book qualifies the claim again and again with "under the sun," life seen without looking beyond this world. Its last word is not "all is vanity" but "Fear God, and keep his commandments" (12:13). The opening verdict is the problem the book works through, not its conclusion. See Argument from the Unlivability of Nihilism.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.