Font Size
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
New International Version
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”(A)
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
King James Version
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
King James Version
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
Read full chapter
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
New King James Version
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
New King James Version
3 (C)What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he [b]toils under the sun?
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
(D)But the earth abides forever.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:2 Or Absurdity, Frustration, Futility, Nonsense; and so throughout the book
- Ecclesiastes 1:3 labors
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
English Standard Version
Ecclesiastes 1:2-4
English Standard Version
2 (A)Vanity[a] of vanities, says (B)the Preacher,
(C)vanity of vanities! (D)All is vanity.
3 (E)What (F)does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but (G)the earth remains forever.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:2 The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
New King James Version (NKJV) 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.