English Standard Version
Ecclesiastes 1:4
4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
Ecclesiastes 1:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
- New International Version (NIV)Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
- New King James Version (NKJV)One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.
Context of Ecclesiastes 1:4
2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 1Ecclesiastes 1:4 word by word
דּ֤וֹר הֹלֵךְ֙ וְד֣וֹר בָּ֔א וְהָאָ֖רֶץ לְעוֹלָ֥ם עֹמָֽדֶת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 1:4
- Ecclesiastes 6:12For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?
- Genesis 5:3When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
- Genesis 11:20When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.
- Genesis 36:9These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.
- Genesis 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning."
- Exodus 1:6Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
- Exodus 6:16These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years.
- Psalms 89:47Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
- Psalms 90:9For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
- Zechariah 1:5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- Psalms 102:24"O my God," I say, "take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!"
- Psalms 104:5He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.
- Psalms 119:90Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
- Matthew 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- 2 Peter 3:10But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4One generation passeth away - Men succeed each other in unceasing generations: but the earth is still the same; it undergoes no change that leads to melioration, or greater perfection. And it will continue the same לעולם leolam, during the whole course of time; till the end of all things arrives.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Vanity is shown in mankind, the elements, and all that moves on earth; the same course is repeated again and again without any permanent result or real progress; and events and people alike are forgotten. Abideth - The apparent permanence of the earth increases by contrast the transitory condition of its inhabitants. Ever - The word does not here absolutely signify “eternity” (compare Ecclesiastes 3:11 note), but a certainly short period (compare Exodus…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-8Verses 4-8 All things change, and never rest. Man, after all his labour, is no nearer finding rest than the sun, the wind, or the current of the river. His soul will find no rest, if he has it not from God. The senses are soon tired, yet still craving what is untried.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Generations come and go, and individual lives often seem to pass without importance.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. earth ... for ever--(Psa 104:5). While the earth remains the same, the generations of men are ever changing; what lasting profit, then, can there be from the toils of one whose sojourn on earth, as an individual, is so brief? The "for ever" is comparative, not absolute (Psa 102:26).Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 1:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries