Ecclesiastes 1:13

Tree of Life Version

I applied my heart to seek and examine by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a burdensome task God has given the sons of men to keep them occupied.

Cross References

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow will you eat food, until you return to the ground, since from it were you taken. For you are dust, and to dust will you return.”

Job 28:3

Man puts an end to darkness; he searches to the farthest reaches for ore in gloom and blackest darkness.

Psalm 111:2

Great are the works of Adonai— searched out by all who delight in them.

Proverbs 18:1

One who isolates oneself seeks his own desire; he defies all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:15

A discerning heart gains knowledge, the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 23:26

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

Proverbs 25:2

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.

Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is supreme—acquire wisdom! With all your acquisitions, get understanding.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

So I applied my heart to know wisdom as well as to know madness and folly. I learned that this too was pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Just as you do not know how the spirit passes into the bones in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God who makes all things.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

Be warned my son of anything in addition to them: There is no end to the making of many books, and excessive study wearies the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

For all his days, his work is pain and grief. Even at night his mind does not rest. This also is futility.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

For to the one who pleases Him, He gives wisdom, knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating wealth to give it to one who pleases God. This also is only vapor and striving after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the task that God has given to the children of men to keep them occupied.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Moreover, He has set eternity in their heart—yet without the possibility that humankind can ever discover the work that God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Then I saw that all toil and all skill that is done come from man’s envy of his neighbor; this too is fleeting and striving after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is one who has no one else, neither son nor brother, yet there is no end to all his toil. His eyes are not content with riches. “So, for whom am I toiling, and depriving myself of prosperity?” This too is meaningless— a grievous task!

Ecclesiastes 7:25

So I turned my heart to understand, to search and seek out wisdom and an explanation of things and to know the stupidity of wickedness and madness of folly.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

I have seen all this while applying my mind to everything done under the sun: sometimes one person dominates another person to his own harm.

1 Timothy 4:15

Practice these things—be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be clear to all.