ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Ecclesiastes 1.13
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Passage

Ecclesiastes 1.13

Book: Ecclesiastes · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

11. There is no remembrance of the former generations; neither shall there be any remembrance of the latter generations that are to come, among those that shall come after. 12. I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13. And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.

  1. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15. That which is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. (Ecclesiastes 1:11-15, ASV)
WEB

11. There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after. 12. I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13. I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

  1. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. 15. That which is crooked can’t be made straight; and that which is lacking can’t be counted. (Ecclesiastes 1:11-15, WEB)
KJV

11. There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. 12. I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13. And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. to be: or, to afflict them

  1. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. 15. That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. that which is wanting: Heb. defect (Ecclesiastes 1:11-15, KJV)
YLT

11. There is not a remembrance of former [generations]; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last. 12. I, a preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13. And I have given my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that hath been done under the heavens. It [is] a sad travail God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

  1. I have seen all the works that have been done under the sun, and lo, the whole [is] vanity and vexation of spirit! 15. A crooked thing [one] is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered. (Ecclesiastes 1:11-15, 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

Qohelet states his method: "I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven." The search is comprehensive and deliberate. It is the project the rest of the book reports on.

He then names it a "sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men," the sons of adam, humanity as a whole. The KJV margin offers "to afflict them" for "to be exercised therewith." The restless drive to understand is not an accident of temperament. God assigned it, and it is heavy. Qohelet repeats the point: "I have seen the travail which God hath given to the sons of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:10).

The next verse in that later passage explains why the search is both given and frustrating: God has "set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). The human mind is made to reach for the whole and cannot grasp it from within. See Argument from Restlessness.

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; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Lexicon:

Passages:

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.