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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 12:8 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ec 12:8	Strong Concordance	Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the preacher [06953]; all is vanity [01892].
	King James	Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
A summary of the first part. Vanity, &c.--Resumption of the sentiment with which the book began (Ecc 1:2; Jo1 2:17).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

A summary of the first part.

Vanity, &c.--Resumption of the sentiment with which the book began (Ecc 1:2; Jo1 2:17).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
This passage is properly regarded as the Epilogue of the whole book; a kind of apology for the obscurity of many of its sayings. The passage serves therefore to make the book more intelligible and more acceptable. Here, as in the beginning of the book Ecc 1:1-2, the Preacher speaks of himself Ecc 12:8-10 in the third person. He first repeats Ecc 12:8 the mournful, perplexing theme with which his musings began Ecc 1:2; and then states the encouraging practical conclusion Ecc 12:13-14 to which they have led him. It has been pointed out that the Epilogue assumes the identity of the Preacher with the writer of the Book of Proverbs. Ecc 12:11 literally, Words of wise men are as goads, and as nails driven in (by) masters of assemblies; they are given from one shepherd: "goads," because they rouse the hearer and impel him to right actions; "nails" (perhaps tent-spikes), because they remain fixed in the memory: "masters of assemblies" are simply "teachers" or "preachers" (see Ecc 1:1 note), instructors of such assemblies as Wisdom addresses Pro 1:20. One shepherd - i. e., God, who is the supreme Giver of wisdom Pro 2:6, and the chief Shepherd Jer 23:1-4. Compare Co1 2:12-13. Ecc 12:12 By these - i. e., "By the words of wise men." Books - Rather, "Writings." Probably the proverbs current in the Preacher's age, including, though not especially indicating, his own. The Preacher protests against the folly of protracted, unprofitable, meditation. Ecc 12:13 literally, "The conclusion of the discourse" (or "word," = words, Ecc 1:1), "the whole, let us hear." The whole duty of man - Rather, the whole man. To revere God and to obey Him is the whole man, constitutes man's whole being; that only is conceded to Man; all other things, as this book teaches again and again, are dependent on a Higher Incomprehensible Being. Ecc 12:14 Judgment with - Rather, judgment (which shall be held) upon etc.: i. e., an appointed judgment which shall take place in another world, as distinct from that retribution which frequently follows man's actions in the course of this world, and which is too imperfect (compare Ecc 2:15; Ecc 4:1; Ecc 7:15; Ecc 9:2, ...) to be described by these expressions. He that is fully convinced that there is no solid happiness to be found in this world, and that there is a world to come wherein God will adjudge people to happiness or misery respectively, as they have made their choice and acted here, must necessarily subscribe to the truth of Solomon's conclusion, that true religion is the only way to true happiness.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

This passage is properly regarded as the Epilogue of the whole book; a kind of apology for the obscurity of many of its sayings. The passage serves therefore to make the book more intelligible and more acceptable.

Here, as in the beginning of the book Ecc 1:1-2, the Preacher speaks of himself Ecc 12:8-10 in the third person. He first repeats Ecc 12:8 the mournful, perplexing theme with which his musings began Ecc 1:2; and then states the encouraging practical conclusion Ecc 12:13-14 to which they have led him. It has been pointed out that the Epilogue assumes the identity of the Preacher with the writer of the Book of Proverbs.

Ecc 12:11

literally, Words of wise men are as goads, and as nails driven in (by) masters of assemblies; they are given from one shepherd: "goads," because they rouse the hearer and impel him to right actions; "nails" (perhaps tent-spikes), because they remain fixed in the memory: "masters of assemblies" are simply "teachers" or "preachers" (see Ecc 1:1 note), instructors of such assemblies as Wisdom addresses Pro 1:20.

One shepherd - i. e., God, who is the supreme Giver of wisdom Pro 2:6, and the chief Shepherd Jer 23:1-4. Compare Co1 2:12-13.

Ecc 12:12

By these - i. e., "By the words of wise men."

Books - Rather, "Writings." Probably the proverbs current in the Preacher's age, including, though not especially indicating, his own.

The Preacher protests against the folly of protracted, unprofitable, meditation.

Ecc 12:13

literally, "The conclusion of the discourse" (or "word," = words, Ecc 1:1), "the whole, let us hear."

The whole duty of man - Rather, the whole man. To revere God and to obey Him is the whole man, constitutes man's whole being; that only is conceded to Man; all other things, as this book teaches again and again, are dependent on a Higher Incomprehensible Being.

Ecc 12:14

Judgment with - Rather, judgment (which shall be held) upon etc.: i. e., an appointed judgment which shall take place in another world, as distinct from that retribution which frequently follows man's actions in the course of this world, and which is too imperfect (compare Ecc 2:15; Ecc 4:1; Ecc 7:15; Ecc 9:2, ...) to be described by these expressions. He that is fully convinced that there is no solid happiness to be found in this world, and that there is a world to come wherein God will adjudge people to happiness or misery respectively, as they have made their choice and acted here, must necessarily subscribe to the truth of Solomon's conclusion, that true religion is the only way to true happiness.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
"O vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, all is vain." If we here look back to Ecc 12:7, that which is there said of the spirit can be no consolation. With right, Hofmann in his Schriftbeweis, I 490, says: "That it is the personal spirit of a man which returns to God; and that it returns to God without losing its consciousness, is an idea foreign to this proverb." Also, Psychol. p. 410, it is willingly conceded that the author wished here to express, first, only the fact, in itself comfortless, that the component parts of the human body return whence they came. But the comfortless averse of the proverb is yet not without a consoling reverse. For what the author, Ecc 3:21, represents as an unsettled possibility, that the spirit of a dying man does not downwards like that of a beast, but upwards, he here affirms as an actual truth. (Note: In the Rig-Veda that which is immortal in man is called manas; the later language calls it âtman; vid., Muir in the Asiatic Journal, 1865, p. 305.) From this, that he thus finally decides the question as an advantage to a man above a beast, it follows of necessity that the return of the spirit to God cannot be thought of as a resumption of the spirit into the essence of God (resorption or emanation), as the cessation of his independent existence, although, as also at Job 34:14; Psa 104:29, the nearest object of the expression is directed to the ruin of the soul-corporeal life of man which directly follows the return of the spirit to God. The same conclusion arises from this, that the idea of the return of the spirit to God, in which the author at last finds rest, cannot yet stand in a subordinate place with reference to the idea of Hades, above which it raises itself; with the latter the spirit remains indestructible, although it has sunk into a silent, inactive life. And in the third place, that conclusion flows from the fact that the author is forced by the present contradiction between human experience and the righteousness of God to the postulate of a judgment finally settling these contradictions, Ecc 3:17; Ecc 11:9, cf. Ecc 12:14, whence it immediately follows that the continued existence of the spirit is thought of as a well-known truth (Psychol. p. 127). The Targ. translates, not against the spirit of the book: "the spirit will return to stand in judgment before God, who gave it to thee." In this connection of thoughts Koheleth says more than what Lucretius says (ii. 998 ss.): Cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante, In terras, et quod missum est ex aetheris oris Id rursum caeli rellatum templa receptant. A comforting thought lies in the words נתנהּ אשׁר. The gifts of God are on His side ἀμεταμέλητα (Rom 11:29). When He receives back that which was given, He receives it back to restore it again in another manner. Such thoughts connect themselves with the reference to God the Giv. Meanwhile the author next aims at showing the vanity of man, viz., of man as living here. Body and spirit are separated, and depart each in its own direction. Not only the world and the labours by which man is encompassed are "vain," and not only is that which man has and does and experiences "vain," but also man himself as such is vain, and thus - this is the facit - all is הבל, "vain."

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

"O vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, all is vain." If we here look back to Ecc 12:7, that which is there said of the spirit can be no consolation. With right, Hofmann in his Schriftbeweis, I 490, says: "That it is the personal spirit of a man which returns to God; and that it returns to God without losing its consciousness, is an idea foreign to this proverb." Also, Psychol. p. 410, it is willingly conceded that the author wished here to express, first, only the fact, in itself comfortless, that the component parts of the human body return whence they came. But the comfortless averse of the proverb is yet not without a consoling reverse. For what the author, Ecc 3:21, represents as an unsettled possibility, that the spirit of a dying man does not downwards like that of a beast, but upwards, he here affirms as an actual truth.

(Note: In the Rig-Veda that which is immortal in man is called manas; the later language calls it âtman; vid., Muir in the Asiatic Journal, 1865, p. 305.)

From this, that he thus finally decides the question as an advantage to a man above a beast, it follows of necessity that the return of the spirit to God cannot be thought of as a resumption of the spirit into the essence of God (resorption or emanation), as the cessation of his independent existence, although, as also at Job 34:14; Psa 104:29, the nearest object of the expression is directed to the ruin of the soul-corporeal life of man which directly follows the return of the spirit to God. The same conclusion arises from this, that the idea of the return of the spirit to God, in which the author at last finds rest, cannot yet stand in a subordinate place with reference to the idea of Hades, above which it raises itself; with the latter the spirit remains indestructible, although it has sunk into a silent, inactive life. And in the third place, that conclusion flows from the fact that the author is forced by the present contradiction between human experience and the righteousness of God to the postulate of a judgment finally settling these contradictions, Ecc 3:17; Ecc 11:9, cf. Ecc 12:14, whence it immediately follows that the continued existence of the spirit is thought of as a well-known truth (Psychol. p. 127). The Targ. translates, not against the spirit of the book: "the spirit will return to stand in judgment before God, who gave it to thee." In this connection of thoughts Koheleth says more than what Lucretius says (ii. 998 ss.):

Cedit item retro, de terra quod fuit ante,

In terras, et quod missum est ex aetheris oris

Id rursum caeli rellatum templa receptant.

A comforting thought lies in the words נתנהּ אשׁר. The gifts of God are on His side ἀμεταμέλητα (Rom 11:29). When He receives back that which was given, He receives it back to restore it again in another manner. Such thoughts connect themselves with the reference to God the Giv. Meanwhile the author next aims at showing the vanity of man, viz., of man as living here. Body and spirit are separated, and depart each in its own direction. Not only the world and the labours by which man is encompassed are "vain," and not only is that which man has and does and experiences "vain," but also man himself as such is vain, and thus - this is the facit - all is הבל, "vain."

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Vanity - This sentence, wherewith he began this book, he here repeats in the end of it, as that which he had proved in all the foregoing discourse, and that which naturally followed from both the branches of the assertion laid down, Ecc 12:7.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
This affecting and minute description of old age and death is concluded by the author with the same exclamation by which he began this book: O vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, all is vanity. Now that man, the masterpiece of God's creation, the delegated sovereign of this lower world, is turned to dust, what is there stable or worthy of contemplation besides? All - All is Vanity!

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¹⁷ And [2532] the world [2889] passeth away [3855], and [2532] the lust [1939] thereof [846]: but [1161] he that doeth [4160] the will [2307] of God [2316] abideth [3306] for [1519] ever [165].

² Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the Preacher [06953], vanity [01892] of vanities [01892]; all is vanity [01892].

² All things come alike to all: there is one [0259] event [04745] to the righteous [06662], and to the wicked [07563]; to the good [02896] and to the clean [02889], and to the unclean [02931]; to him that sacrificeth [02076], and to him that [0834] sacrificeth [02076] not: as is the good [02896], so is the sinner [02398]; and he that sweareth [07650], as he that feareth [03373] an oath [07621].

¹⁵ All things have I seen [07200] in the days [03117] of my vanity [01892]: there is [03426] a just [06662] man that perisheth [06] in his righteousness [06664], and there is a wicked [07563] man that prolongeth [0748] his life in his wickedness [07451].

¹ So I returned [07725], and considered [07200] all the oppressions [06217] that are done [06213] under the sun [08121]: and behold the tears [01832] of such as were oppressed [06231], and they had no comforter [05162]; and on the side [03027] of their oppressors [06231] there was power [03581]; but they had no comforter [05162].

¹⁵ Then [0227] said [0559] I in my heart [03820], As it happeneth [04745] to the fool [03684], so it happeneth [07136] even to me [01571]; and why was I then more [03148] wise [02449]? Then I said [01696] in my heart [03820], that this also is vanity [01892].

¹⁴ For God [0430] shall bring [0935] every work [04639] into judgment [04941], with every secret thing [05956], whether it be good [02896], or whether it be evil [07451].

¹ The words [01697] of the Preacher [06953], the son [01121] of David [01732], king [04428] in Jerusalem [03389].

¹³ Let us hear [08085] the conclusion [05490] of the whole matter [01697]: Fear [03372] God [0430], and keep [08104] his commandments [04687]: for this is the whole duty of man [0120].

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].

¹² Now [1161] we [2249] have received [2983], not [3756] the spirit [4151] of the world [2889], but [235] the spirit [4151] which [3588] is of [1537] God [2316]; that [2443] we might know [1492] the things that are freely given [5483] to us [2254] of [5259] God [2316].
¹³ Which things [3739] also [2532] we speak [2980], not [3756] in [1722] the words [3056] which man's [442] wisdom [4678] teacheth [1318], but [235] which the Holy [40] Ghost [4151] teacheth [1722] [1318]; comparing [4793] spiritual things [4152] with spiritual [4152].

¹ Woe [01945] be unto the pastors [07462] that destroy [06] and scatter [06327] the sheep [06629] of my pasture [04830]! saith [05002] the LORD [03068].
² Therefore thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068] God [0430] of Israel [03478] against the pastors [07462] that feed [07462] my people [05971]; Ye have scattered [06327] my flock [06629], and driven them away [05080], and have not visited [06485] them: behold, I will visit [06485] upon you the evil [07455] of your doings [04611], saith [05002] the LORD [03068].
³ And I will gather [06908] the remnant [07611] of my flock [06629] out of all countries [0776] whither I have driven [05080] them, and will bring them again [07725] to their folds [05116]; and they shall be fruitful [06509] and increase [07235].
⁴ And I will set up [06965] shepherds [07462] over them which shall feed [07462] them: and they shall fear [03372] no more, nor be dismayed [02865], neither shall they be lacking [06485], saith [05002] the LORD [03068].

⁶ For the LORD [03068] giveth [05414] wisdom [02451]: out of his mouth [06310] cometh knowledge [01847] and understanding [08394].

²⁰ Wisdom [02454] crieth [07442] without [02351]; she uttereth [05414] her voice [06963] in the streets [07339]:

¹ The words [01697] of the Preacher [06953], the son [01121] of David [01732], king [04428] in Jerusalem [03389].

¹¹ The words [01697] of the wise [02450] are as goads [01861], and as nails [04930] fastened [05193] by the masters [01167] of assemblies [0627], which are given [05414] from one [0259] shepherd [07462].

¹³ Let us hear [08085] the conclusion [05490] of the whole matter [01697]: Fear [03372] God [0430], and keep [08104] his commandments [04687]: for this is the whole duty of man [0120].
¹⁴ For God [0430] shall bring [0935] every work [04639] into judgment [04941], with every secret thing [05956], whether it be good [02896], or whether it be evil [07451].

² Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the Preacher [06953], vanity [01892] of vanities [01892]; all is vanity [01892].

⁸ Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the preacher [06953]; all is vanity [01892].

⁸ Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the preacher [06953]; all is vanity [01892].
⁹ And moreover [03148], because the preacher [06953] was wise [02450], he still taught [03925] the people [05971] knowledge [01847]; yea, he gave good heed [0239], and sought out [02713], and set in order [08626] many [07235] proverbs [04912].
¹⁰ The preacher [06953] sought [01245] to find out [04672] acceptable [02656] words [01697]: and that which was written [03789] was upright [03476], even words [01697] of truth [0571].

¹ The words [01697] of the Preacher [06953], the son [01121] of David [01732], king [04428] in Jerusalem [03389].
² Vanity [01892] of vanities [01892], saith [0559] the Preacher [06953], vanity [01892] of vanities [01892]; all is vanity [01892].

²⁹ For [1063] the gifts [5486] and [2532] calling [2821] of God [2316] are without repentance [278].

¹⁴ For God [0430] shall bring [0935] every work [04639] into judgment [04941], with every secret thing [05956], whether it be good [02896], or whether it be evil [07451].

⁹ Rejoice [08055], O young man [0970], in thy youth [03208]; and let thy heart [03820] cheer [02895] thee in the days [03117] of thy youth [0979], and walk [01980] in the ways [01870] of thine heart [03820], and in the sight [04758] of thine eyes [05869]: but know [03045] thou, that for all these things God [0430] will bring [0935] thee into judgment [04941].

¹⁷ I said [0559] in mine heart [03820], God [0430] shall judge [08199] the righteous [06662] and the wicked [07563]: for there is a time [06256] there for every purpose [02656] and for every work [04639].

²⁹ Thou hidest [05641] thy face [06440], they are troubled [0926]: thou takest away [0622] their breath [07307], they die [01478], and return [07725] to their dust [06083].

¹⁴ If he set [07760] his heart [03820] upon man, if he gather [0622] unto himself his spirit [07307] and his breath [05397];

²¹ Who knoweth [03045] the spirit [07307] of man [01121] [0120] that goeth [05927] upward [04605], and the spirit [07307] of the beast [0929] that goeth [03381] downward [04295] to the earth [0776]?

⁷ Then shall the dust [06083] return [07725] to the earth [0776] as it was: and the spirit [07307] shall return [07725] unto God [0430] who gave [05414] it.