Ecclesiastes 1:2

Tree of Life Version

Futile! Futile! says Kohelet. Completely meaningless! Everything is futile!

Cross References

Job 11:12

But a witless man will gain understanding when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being?

Psalm 144:4

Man is like a breath— his days are like a passing shadow.

Psalm 89:47

How long, Adonai, will You hide Yourself? Forever? Will Your fury keep burning like fire?

Ecclesiastes 11:10

So banish anxiety from your heart and cast off distress from your body, for youth and prime of life are fleeting.

Ecclesiastes 11:8

For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness— for there will be many. Everything to come is obscure.

Ecclesiastes 12:8

“Evanescent vapors,” says Kohelet. All is futility.

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Yet when I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended to accomplish it, behold, it all was futile and chasing after the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:15

Then said I in my heart: “I, even I, will have the same destiny as a fool. So why have I become so wise?” I said in my heart, “This too is meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes 2:17

And so I hated life, because the work done under the sun was grievous to me. All is but vapor and chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

Who knows if he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master over all the fruit of my toil for which I had wisely labored under the sun. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 2:21

For sometimes a man, who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, must hand over as an inheritance to someone who did not work for it. This also is futile and a great misfortune.

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 2:8

I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as the treasure of kings and the provinces. I acquired male and female singers for myself, as well as the luxuries of humankind—vaults and vaults of them.

Ecclesiastes 3:19

For the destiny of humankind and the destiny of animals are one and the same. As one dies, so dies the other. Both have the same breath—a human has no advantage over an animal—both are fleeting.

Ecclesiastes 4:16

There is no end to all the people—to all who were before him. Also those who will come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this too is meaningless and striving after the wind.

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 5:10

When goods increase, so do those who consume them. So what advantage are they to the owner except he sees it with his eyes?

Ecclesiastes 6:11

When there are many words, futility increases! How does that benefit anyone?

Romans 8:20

For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of the One who subjected it—in hope