Ecclesiastes 1:13

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Ecclesiastes 1:11–15 · Berean Standard Bible

11 There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 7:25

I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

Ecclesiastes 8:16

When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

Ecclesiastes 8:17

I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

Psalms 111:2

Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Proverbs 2:2

if you incline your ear to wisdom and direct your heart to understanding,

Proverbs 2:3

if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding,

Proverbs 2:4

if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,

Proverbs 4:7

Wisdom is supreme; so acquire wisdom. And whatever you may acquire, gain understanding.

Proverbs 18:1

He who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:15

The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it out.

Proverbs 23:26

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

1 Timothy 4:15

Be diligent in these matters and absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

I saw that all labor and success spring from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

And by these, my son, be further warned: There is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground— because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”