Ecclesiastes 1:13

Modern English Version

I set my heart to seek and to investigate with wisdom everything that is done under heaven. It is a burdensome task that God has given to humanity to be occupied with.

Cross References

Genesis 3:19

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

Job 28:3

Man puts an end to darkness, and searches every extremity for ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.

Psalm 111:2

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

Proverbs 18:1

A man who separates himself seeks his own desire; he defies all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:15

The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 23:26

My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

Proverbs 25:2

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.

Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom, and with all your possessions, get understanding.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know the folly of ideas, and to know foolish behavior. I know that this as well is like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Just as you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones grow to fullness in the womb of a woman with child; so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

Beyond these, my son, be warned. There is no end of making many books, and much study is a weariness of the body.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

All his days are sorrowful, and his work is a vexation. Even at night his heart finds no rest. This also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

To the person who is pleasing before Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the one who sins, He gives the task to gather and collect, to give to the other person who is pleasing before God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the task that God has given to people to be concerned with.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also put obscurity in their hearts so that people do not come to know the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

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

Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is a person who is alone, having neither son nor brother; there is not an end to all his toil, and his eyes are not satisfied with riches. He asks, “For whom do I labor and cause my life to lack good things?” This also is vanity and a burdensome task.

Ecclesiastes 7:25

And I turned my heart to know and seek and search out wisdom in the scheme of things and to know the wickedness of folly, and that foolishness is madness.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man rules over others to their hurt.

1 Timothy 4:15

Meditate on these things. Give yourself completely to them, that your progress may be known to everyone.