Ecclesiastes 1:13 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

¹³ I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to humans to be busy with.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹³ And I applied myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.

American Standard Version (1901)

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.

Common English Bible

¹³ I applied my mind to investigate and to explore by wisdom all that happens under heaven. It’s an unhappy obsession that God has given to human beings.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹³ And I was determined in my mind to seek and to investigate wisely, concerning all that is done under the sun. God has given this very difficult task to the sons of men, so that they may be occupied by it.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

¹³ And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein.

Ecclesiastes 1:13 Cross References

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Job 28:3

Miners put an end to darkness and search out to the farthest bound the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

Psalm 111:2

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.

Proverbs 18:1

The one who lives alone is self-indulgent, showing contempt for all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:15

An intelligent mind acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 23:26

My child, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

Proverbs 25:2

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.

Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

the case of solitary individuals, without sons or brothers; yet there is no end to all their toil, and their eyes are never satisfied with riches. “For whom am I toiling,” they ask, “and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy business.

Ecclesiastes 7:25

I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.

1 Timothy 4:15

Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.