The Teacher Speaks
Ecclesiastes searches for meaning “under the sun,” and from that earthbound vantage the Teacher sees God as distant and inscrutable—named simply as God, rarely as Father. Yet His fingerprints are everywhere: every good gift of ordinary life comes from His hand.
1 1The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem. a a v1 Ecclesiastes is the testament of Qoheleth — 'the Preacher' or 'the One who gathers an assembly.' Throughout the book Qoheleth speaks of God in distant-deity register, never reaching for the relational name 'Father.' The book preserves the honest exhaustion of life lived 'under the sun' — without our Father's revealed nearness. Jesus comes to bring the Father near (John 14:9). 2"Utterly fleeting," says the Teacher, "utterly fleeting! Everything is fleeting."
3What does a person gain from all the labor at which they toil under the sun? 4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its circuits. 7All the streams run to the sea, yet the sea is never full; the streams return to their source and flow again. 8All things are wearisome, more than anyone can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there anything anyone can point to and say, "Look, this is new"? It was already here, in the ages before us. 11There is no remembrance of those who came before, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
Solomon's Search
12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13I gave my heart to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven — a miserable task God has given mankind to struggle with. 14I saw all the deeds done under the sun, and look — it is all fleeting, a chasing after wind. 15What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted. 16I told myself, "Look, I have grown great and gained more wisdom than all who ruled Jerusalem before me; my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge." 17I set my mind to know wisdom, and madness and foolishness; I learned this too is a chasing after the wind. 18For with much wisdom comes much grief, and the more knowledge, the more sorrow.
