Ecclesiastes 1, 2021

 

Hey y’all and welcome to another post.  As I am sure you have assumed from the title, this post is on Ecclesiastes chapter 1.  In this post I will be giving my favorite verse from 2 different translations, and then the whole chapter from another version.  Ready, set, here we go…

 

ECCLESIASTES 1 NLT

8Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

 

ECCLESIASTES 1 ESV

15 See ch. 7:13What is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be counted.

 17And I ver. 13; [ch. 2:3, 12; 7:23, 25]applied my heart to know wisdom and to know ch. 9:3madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but [See ver. 14 above]a striving after wind.

 

ECCLESIASTES 1 CEV

 

Nothing Makes Sense

1When the son of David was king in Jerusalem, he was known to be very wise,1.1 known to be very wise: This stands for the Hebrew word often translated “preacher” or “teacher.” The word may refer to someone who was a very wise leader or to someone who had become wise from collecting sayings about wisdom. and he said:

2Nothing makes sense!

Everything is nonsense.

I have seen it all—

nothing makes sense!

3What is there to show

for all of our hard work

here on this earth?

4 Si 14.18. People come, and people go,

but still the world

never changes.

5The sun comes up,

the sun goes down;

it hurries right back

to where it started from.

6The wind blows south,

the wind blows north;

round and round it blows

over and over again.

7All rivers empty into the sea,

but it never spills over;

one by one the rivers return

to their source.1.7 return to their source: Or “flow into the sea.”

8All of life is far more boring

than words could ever say.

Our eyes and our ears

are never satisfied

with what we see and hear.

9Everything that happens

has happened before;

nothing is new,

nothing under the sun.

10Someone might say,

“Here is something new!”

But it happened before,

long before we were born.

11No one who lived in the past

is remembered anymore,

and everyone yet to be born

will be forgotten too.

It Is Senseless To Be Wise

12I said these things when I lived in Jerusalem as king of Israel. 13With all my wisdom I tried to understand everything that happens here on earth. And God has made this so hard for us humans to do. 14I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.1.14 chasing the wind: Or “eating the wind.”

15If something is crooked,

it can't be made straight;

if something isn't there,

it can't be counted.

16 1 K 4.29-31; Si 47.14-18. I said to myself, “You are by far the wisest person who has ever lived in Jerusalem. You are eager to learn, and you have learned a lot.” 17Then I decided to find out all I could about wisdom and foolishness. Soon I realized that this too was as senseless as chasing the wind.1.17 chasing the wind: See the note at 1.14.

18The more you know,

the more you hurt;

the more you understand,

the more you suffer.

 

 

In my heart, I feel as though the Contemporary English Version says it nice and beautifully.  I say my heart because this does strike a particular cord with me.  I went on a knowledge hunt, searching everywhere for answers, which led to broadening my view, which led to more questions, and thus the cycles continued.  Then I read in scripture that we are not meant to have all of the answers (Isaiah 55:8 CEV 8The Lord says: “My thoughts and my ways are not like yours).  At first, it didn’t seem fair to me that God would say that.  After much thought and contemplation, I finally came to a point where God contented my heart, and I realized that sometimes, there isn’t just one simple answer.  As much as we would like there to be, there just isn’t.  I do know that with much patience tends to come more knowledge/wisdom.  Outside of that, we are not going to have any answers that God does not intend on us having.  This is just another example of why it is so important to be spending time with the Holy Spirit, and being intentional in your relationship with God.  If you allow it, he is your guide.  He will give you the answers that you need, and content you when you’ve had enough.  If you like being on an exhausting hunt going on paths of ups and downs and every which way, then go ahead and exhaust yourself.  I on the other hand, have learned my lesson and will cling to the joy and peace that God put in my heart.

Until next time, much love and may peace be with y’all…