the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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The NET Bible®
Ecclesiastes 1:4
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Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.
One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.
People live, and people die, but the earth continues forever.
[One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.
One generation goes and another generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
Generacioun passith awei, and generacioun cometh; but the erthe stondith with outen ende.
One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever.
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
People come, and people go, but still the world never changes.
One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever.
One generation goes and another comes; but the earth is for ever.
Generations come, generations go, but the earth remains forever.
[One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation cometh, but the earth standeth for ever.
People live and people die, but the earth continues forever.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever.
One generation passeth away, and another generation commeth: but the earth abideth for euer.
People die and people are born, but the earth stays forever.
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
One generation passeth, and another generation succeedeth: but the earth remaineth for euer.
One generation passes away and another generation comes; but the earth abides for ever.
Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same.
Generation, goeth and, generation, cometh, but, the earth, unto times age-abiding, remaineth.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth standeth for ever.
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.
One generation passeth away, another commeth: but the earth abideth styll.
A generation goes, and a generation comes: but the earth stands for ever.
A generation goes and a generation comes,but the earth remains forever.
One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the eretz remains forever.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.
A generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth stands forever.
A generation is going, and a generation is coming, and the earth to the age is standing.
One generacio passeth awaye, another commeth, but the earth abydeth still.
A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
A generation goes and a generation comes,But the earth stands forever.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
One generation: Ecclesiastes 6:12, Genesis 5:3-31, Genesis 11:20-32, Genesis 36:9-19, Genesis 47:9, Exodus 1:6, Exodus 1:7, Exodus 6:16-27, Psalms 89:47, Psalms 89:48, Psalms 90:9, Psalms 90:10, Zechariah 1:5
but: Psalms 102:24-28, Psalms 104:5, Psalms 119:90, Psalms 119:91, Matthew 24:35, 2 Peter 3:10-13
Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 6:10 - I am risen Job 21:33 - every man Luke 20:32 - died 1 Corinthians 7:31 - for
Cross-References
God called the dry ground "land" and the gathered waters he called "seas." God saw that it was good.
The land produced vegetation—plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
God saw all that he had made—and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
I realized that wisdom is preferable to folly, just as light is preferable to darkness:
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
[One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation cometh,.... This shows that a man can have no profit of all his labour under the sun, because of his short continuance; as soon almost as he has got anything by his labour, he must leave it: not only particular persons, but families, nations, and kingdoms; even all the inhabitants of the world, that are contemporaries, live together in the same age, in a certain period of time; these gradually go off by death, till the whole generation is consumed, as the generation of the Israelites in the wilderness were. Death is meant by passing away; it is a going out of time into eternity; a departure out of this world to another; a quitting of the earthly house of this tabernacle for the grave, the house appointed for all living; it is man's going to his long home: and this is going the way of all the earth; in a short time a whole race or generation of men go off the stage of the world, and then another succeeds q; they come in by birth; and men are described from their birth by such as "come into the world"; for which there is a set time, as well as for going out, John 1:9; and these having been a while in the world, go off to make room for another generation; and so things have been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end of it. Homer r illustrates this by the succession of leaves of trees; as is the generation of trees, he says, such is that of men; some leaves, the wind sheds them on the ground; others the budding forest puts forth, and they grow in their room in the springtime; so is the generation of men; one is born, and another ceases. Now death puts an end to all a man's enjoyments got by labour, his riches, honour, and natural knowledge; these all cease with him, and therefore he has no profit of all his labour under the sun;
but the earth abideth for ever; for a long time, until the dissolution of all things; and then, though that and all in it will be burnt up, yet it will rather be changed than destroyed; the form of it will be altered, when the substance of it will continue; it will not be annihilated, but renewed and refined. This is mentioned to show that the earth, which was made for man, of which he is the inhabitant and proprietor, is more stable than he himself; he soon passes off from it, but that continues; he returns to the earth, from whence he came, but that remains as it did; he dies, and leaves the earth behind him, and all his acquisitions in it; and therefore what profit has he of all his labours on it? Besides, that remains to have the same things transacted on it, over and over again, as has been already; God, that made it for men to dwell in, has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of men's habitations in it; he has appointed who shall dwell on it, and where, in successive generations; and till all these men are born and gone off, age after age, the earth shall continue, and then pass through its last change. The Targum is,
"the earth stands for ever, to bear the vengeance that is to come upon the world for the sins of the children of men.''
The Midrash Tanchuma, as Jarchi observes, interprets it of all the righteous of Israel, called the earth; and he himself, of the meek that shall inherit the earth: says R. Isaac s,
"one kingdom comes, and another goes, but Israel abideth for ever.''
q "Nihil enim semper floret, aetas succedit aetati", Cicero. Orat. Philip. 11. r Iliad. 6. v. 146, &c. So Musaeus apud Clement. Stromat. l. 6. p 649. "Ut silvae foliis", &c. Horat. de Arte Poctica, v. 60. s Apud R. Joseph. Titatzak in loc.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Vanity 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 21:6): here it might be paraphrased “as long as this world, this present order of things, lasts.”
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Ecclesiastes 1:4. One 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.
