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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 1:8 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 1:8 |
Strong Concordance |
All things [01697] are full of labour [03023]; man [0376] cannot [03201] utter [01696] it: the eye [05869] is not satisfied [07646] with seeing [07200], nor the ear [0241] filled [04390] with hearing [08085]. |
| |
King James |
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| MAURER translates, "All words are wearied out," that is, are inadequate, as also, "man cannot express" all the things in the world which undergo this ceaseless, changeless cycle of vicissitudes: "The eye is not satisfied with seeing them," &c. But it is plainly a return to the idea (Ecc 1:3) as to man's "labor," which is only wearisome and profitless; "no new" good can accrue from it (Ecc 1:9); for as the sun, &c., so man's laborious works move in a changeless cycle. The eye and ear are two of the taskmasters for which man toils. But these are never "satisfied" (Ecc 6:7; Pro 27:20). Nor can they be so hereafter, for there will be nothing "new." Not so the chief good, Jesus Christ (Joh 4:13-14; Rev 21:5). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| All things ... utter it - This clause, as here translated, refers to the immensity of labor. Others translate it, "all words are full of labor; they make weary the hearers," or "are feeble or insufficient" to tell the whole; and are referred to the impossibility of adequately describing labor. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
"All things are in activity; no man can utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, and the ear is not full with hearing." All translators and interpreters who understand devarim here of words (lxx, Syr., and Targ.) go astray; for if the author meant to say that no words can describe this everlasting sameness with perpetual change, then he would have expressed himself otherwise than by "all words weary" (Ew., Elst., Hengst., and others); he ought at least to have said לריק יג. But also "all things are wearisome" (Knob., Hitz.), or "full of labour" (Zck.), i.e., it is wearisome to relate them all, cannot be the meaning of the sentence; for יגע does not denote that which causes weariness, but that which suffers weariness (Deu 25:18; Sa2 7:2); and to refer the affection, instead of to the narrator, to that which is to be narrated, would be even for a poet too affected a quid pro quo. Rosenmller essentially correctly: omnes res fatigantur h. e. in perpetua versantur vicissitudine, qua fatigantur quasi. But יגעים is not appropriately rendered by fatigantur; the word means, becoming wearied, or perfectly feeble, or also: wearying oneself (cf. Ecc 10:15; Ecc 12:12), working with a strain on one's strength, fatiguing oneself (cf.יגיע, that which is gained by labour, work). This is just what these four examples are meant to show, viz., that a restless activity reaching no visible conclusion and end, always beginning again anew, pervades the whole world-all things, he says, summarizing, are in labour, i.e., are restless, hastening on, giving the impression of fatigue.
Thus also in strict sequence of thought that which follows: this unrest in the outer world reflects itself in man, when he contemplates that which is done around him; human language cannot exhaust this coming and going, this growth and decay in constant circle, and the quodlibet is so great, that the eye cannot be satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing; to the unrest of things without corresponds the unrest of the mind, which through this course, in these ever repeated variations, always bringing back the old again to view, is kept in ceaseless activity. The object to dǎbbēr is the totality of things. No words can comprehend this, no sensible perception exhaust it. That which is properly aimed at here is not the unsatisfiedness of the eyes (Pro 27:20), and generally of the mind, thus not the ever-new attractive power which appertains to the eye and the ear of him who observes, but the force with which the restless activity which surrounds us lays hold of and communicates itself to us, so that we also find no rest and contentment. With שׂבע, to be satisfied, of the eye, there is appropriately interchanged נמלא, used of the funnel-shaped ear, to be filled, i.e., to be satisfied (as at Ecc 6:7). The min connected with this latter word is explained by Zck. after Hitz., "away from hearing," i.e., so that it may hear no more. This is not necessary. As saava' with its min may signify to be satisfied with anything, e.g., Ecc 6:3, Job 19:22; Psa 104:13; cf. Kal, Isa 2:6, Pih. Jer 51:34; Psa 127:5. Thus mishshemoa' is understood by all the old translators (e.g., Targ. מלּמשׁמע), and thus also, perhaps, the author meant it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, and the ear is not filled (satisfied) with hearing; or yet more in accordance with the Heb. expression: there is not an eye, i.e., no eye is satisfied, etc., restlessly hastening, giving him who looks no rest, the world goes on in its circling course without revealing anything that is in reality new. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| All things - Not only the sun, and winds, and rivers, but all other creatures. Labour - They are in continual restlessness and change, never abiding in the same state. Is not satisfied - As there are many things in the world vexatious to men, so even those things which are comfortable, are not satisfactory, but men are constantly desiring some longer continuance or fuller enjoyment of them, or variety in them. The eye and ear are here put for all the senses, because these are most spiritual and refined, most curious and inquisitive, most capable of receiving satisfaction, and exercised with more ease and pleasure than the other senses. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| All things are full of labor - It is; impossible to calculate how much anxiety, pain, labor, and fatigue are necessary in order to carry on the common operations of life. But an endless desire of gain, and an endless curiosity to unfitness a variety of results, cause men to, labor on. The eye sees much, but wishes to, see more. The ear hears of many things; but is curious to have the actual knowledge of them. So desire and curiosity carry men, under the Divine providence, through all the labors and pains of life. |
5 And [2532] he that sat [2521] upon [1909] the throne [2362] said [2036], Behold [2400], I make [4160] all things [3956] new [2537]. And [2532] he said [3004] unto me [3427], Write [1125]: for [3754] these [3778] words [3056] are [1526] true [228] and [2532] faithful [4103].
13 Jesus [2424] answered [611] and [2532] said [2036] unto her [846], Whosoever [3956] drinketh [4095] of [1537] this [5127] water [5204] shall thirst [1372] again [3825]:
14 But [1161] whosoever [3739] [302] drinketh [4095] of [1537] the water [5204] that [3739] I [1473] shall give [1325] him [846] shall [1372] never [1519] [165] [3364] thirst [1372]; but [235] the water [5204] that [3739] I shall give [1325] him [846] shall be [1096] in [1722] him [846] a well [4077] of water [5204] springing up [242] into [1519] everlasting [166] life [2222].
20 Hell [07585] and destruction [011] [010] are never [03808] full [07646]; so the eyes [05869] of man [0120] are never satisfied [07646].
7 All the labour [05999] of man [0120] is for his mouth [06310], and yet the appetite [05315] is not filled [04390].
9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done [06213] is that which shall be done [06213]: and there is no new [02319] thing under the sun [08121].
3 What profit [03504] hath a man [0120] of all his labour [05999] which he taketh [05998] under the sun [08121]?
5 Happy [0835] is the man [01397] that hath his quiver [0827] full [04390] of them: they shall not be ashamed [0954], but they shall speak [01696] with the enemies [0341] in the gate [08179].
34 Nebuchadrezzar [05019] the king [04428] of Babylon [0894] hath devoured [0398] me, he hath crushed [02000] me, he hath made [03322] me an empty [07385] vessel [03627], he hath swallowed me up [01104] like a dragon [08577], he hath filled [04390] his belly [03770] with my delicates [05730], he hath cast me out [01740].
6 Therefore thou hast forsaken [05203] thy people [05971] the house [01004] of Jacob [03290], because they be replenished [04390] from the east [06924], and are soothsayers [06049] like the Philistines [06430], and they please [05606] themselves in the children [03206] of strangers [05237].
13 He watereth [08248] the hills [02022] from his chambers [05944]: the earth [0776] is satisfied [07646] with the fruit [06529] of thy works [04639].
22 Why do ye persecute [07291] me as God [0410], and are not satisfied [07646] with my flesh [01320]?
3 If a man [0376] beget [03205] an hundred [03967] children, and live [02421] many [07227] years [08141], so that the days [03117] of his years [08141] be many [07227], and his soul [05315] be not filled [07646] with good [02896], and also that he have no burial [06900]; I say [0559], that an untimely birth [05309] is better [02896] than he.
7 All the labour [05999] of man [0120] is for his mouth [06310], and yet the appetite [05315] is not filled [04390].
20 Hell [07585] and destruction [011] [010] are never [03808] full [07646]; so the eyes [05869] of man [0120] are never satisfied [07646].
12 And further [03148], by these [01992], my son [01121], be admonished [02094]: of making [06213] many [07235] books [05612] there is no end [07093]; and much [07235] study [03854] is a weariness [03024] of the flesh [01320].
15 The labour [05999] of the foolish [03684] wearieth [03021] every one of them, because he knoweth [03045] not how to go [03212] to the city [05892].
2 That the king [04428] said [0559] unto Nathan [05416] the prophet [05030], See [07200] now, I dwell [03427] in an house [01004] of cedar [0730], but the ark [0727] of God [0430] dwelleth [03427] within [08432] curtains [03407].
18 How he met [07136] thee by the way [01870], and smote the hindmost [02179] of thee, even all that were feeble [02826] behind [0310] thee, when thou wast faint [05889] and weary [03023]; and he feared [03373] not God [0430].