Ecclesiastes 1:9

Ecclesiastes 1:9 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
• English Standard Version (ESV)What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
• New King James Version (NKJV)That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
• New Living Translation (NLT)History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

Context of Ecclesiastes 1:9

7All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 8All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 11No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 word by word

מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָה֙ ה֣וּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶ֔ה וּמַה־שֶׁנַּֽעֲשָׂ֔ה ה֖וּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין כָּל־חָדָ֖שׁ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• which shall be; and that which is doneעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
• no newחָדָשׁchâdâsh · newH2319
• under the sunשֶׁ֫מֶשׁshemesh · sunH8121

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 1:9

• Ecclesiastes 3:15Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
• Ecclesiastes 7:10Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.
• 2 Peter 2:1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
• Isaiah 43:19See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
• Jeremiah 31:22How long will you wander, unfaithful Daughter Israel? The Lord will create a new thing on earth— the woman will return to the man.”
• Revelation 21:1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 1:9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9The thing that hath been - Every thing in the whole economy of nature has its revolutions; summer and winter, heat and cold, rain and drought, seedtime and autumn, with the whole system of corruption and generation, alternately succeed each other, so that whatever has been shall be again. There is really, physically, and philosophically, nothing absolutely new under the sun, in the course of sublunary things. The same is the case in all the revolutions of…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9Hath been … is done - i. e., Hath happened in the course of nature … is done by man.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-11Verses 9-11 Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same. This should take us from expecting happiness in the creature, and quicken us to seek eternal blessings. How many things and persons in Solomon's day were thought very great, yet there is no remembrance of them now!Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-11The Teacher starts by noting that every natural and historical activity has a repetitive cycle of coming and going, existing and not existing. This can cause some to feel that everything is meaningless. The Teacher quickly shifts from one topic to another and ends this section with the topic he began with, using a literary style that reflects the cycles he describes in nature and human history.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. Rather, "no new thing at all"; as in Nu 11:6. This is not meant in a general sense; but there is no new source of happiness (the subject in question) which can be devised; the same round of petty pleasures, cares, business, study, wars, &c., being repeated over and over again [Holden].Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Sun
• Vanity
• Astronomy
• Regeneration
• Synagogue, the Great

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