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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 1:7 - Young's Literal
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 1:7 |
Young's Literal |
All the streams are going unto the sea, and the sea is not full; unto a place whither the streams are going, thither they are turning back to go. |
| |
King James |
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. |
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] |
| By subterraneous cavities, and by evaporation forming rain clouds, the fountains and rivers are supplied from the sea, into which they then flow back. The connection is: Individual men are continually changing, while the succession of the race continues; just as the sun, wind, and rivers are ever shifting about, while the cycle in which they move is invariable; they return to the point whence they set out. Hence is man, as in these objects of nature which are his analogue, with all the seeming changes "there is no new thing" (Ecc 1:9). |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| The place - i. e., The spring or river-head. It would seem that the ancient Hebrews regarded the clouds as the immediate feeders of the springs (Pro 8:28, and Psa 104:10, Psa 104:13). Gen 2:6 indicates some acquaintance with the process and result of evaporation. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
"All rivers run into the sea, and the sea becomes not full; to the place whence the rivers came, thither they always return again." Instead of nehhárim, nehhalim was preferred, because it is the more general name for flowing waters, brooks, and rivers; נחל (from נחל, cavare), אפיק (from אפק, continere), and (Arab.) wadin (from the root-idea of stretching, extending), all three denote the channel or bed, and then the water flowing in it. The sentence, "all rivers run into the sea," is consistent with fact. Manifestly the author does not mean that they all immediately flow thither; and by "the sea" he does not mean this or that sea; nor does he think, as the Targ. explains, of the earth as a ring (גּוּשׁפּנקא, Pers. angusht-bâne, properly "finger-guard") surrounding the ocean: but the sea in general is meant, perhaps including also the ocean that is hidden. If we include this internal ocean, then the rivers which lose themselves in hollows, deserts, or inland lakes, which have no visible outlet, form no exception. But the expression refers first of all to the visible sea-basins, which gain no apparent increase by these masses of water being emptied into them: "the sea, it becomes not full;" איננּוּ (Mishn. אינו) has the reflex. pron., as at Exo 3:2; Lev 13:34, and elsewhere. If the sea became full, then there would be a real change; but this sea, which, as Aristophanes says (Clouds, 1294f.), οὐδὲν γίγνεται ἐπιῤῥηεόντων τῶν ποταμῶν πλείων, represents also the eternal sameness. In Lev 13:7, Symm., Jer., Luther, and also Zckler, translate שׁ in the sense of "from whence;" others, as Ginsburg, venture to take שׁם in the sense of משּׁם; both interpretations are linguistically inadmissible.
Generally the author does not mean to say that the rivers return to their sources, since the sea replenishes the fountains, but that where they once flow, they always for ever flow without changing their course, viz., into the all-devouring sea (Elst.); for the water rising out of the sea in vapour, and collecting itself in rain-clouds, fills the course anew, and the rivers flow on anew, for the old repeats itself in the same direction to the same end. מקום is followed by what is a virtual genitive (Psa 104:8); the accentuation rightly extends this only to הלכים; for אשׁר, according to its relation, signifies in itself ubi, Gen 39:20, and quo, Num 13:27; Kg1 12:2 (never unde). שׁם, however, has after verbs of motion, as e.g., Jer 22:27 after שׁוב, and Sa1 9:6 after הלך, frequently the sense of שׁמּה. And שׁוּב with ל and the infin. signifies to do something again, Hos 11:9; Job 7:7, thus: to the place whither the rivers flow, thither they flow again, eo rursus eunt. The author here purposely uses only participles, because although there is constant change, yet that which renews itself is ever the same. He now proceeds, after this brief but comprehensive induction of particulars, to that which is general. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Is not full - So as to overflow the earth. Whereby also he intimates the emptiness of mens minds, notwithstanding all the abundance of creature comforts. Rivers come - Unto the earth in general, from whence they come or flow into the sea, and to which they return by the reflux of the sea. For he seems to speak of the visible and constant motion of the waters, both to the sea and from it, and then to it again in a perpetual reciprocation. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full - The reason is, nothing goes into it either by the; rivers or by rain, that does not come from it: and to the place whence the rivers come, whether from the sea originally by evaporation, or immediately by rain, thither they return again; for the water exhaled from the sea by evaporation is collected in the clouds, and in rain, etc., falls upon the tops of the mountains; and, filtered through their fissures, produce streams, several of which uniting, make rivers, which flow into the sea. The water is again evaporated by the sun; the vapors collected are precipitated; and, being filtered through the earth, become streams, etc., as before. |
9 What `is' that which hath been? it `is' that which is, and what `is' that which hath been done? it `is' that which is done, and there is not an entirely new thing under the sun.
6 and a mist goeth up from the earth, and hath watered the whole face of the ground.
13 Watering hills from His upper chambers, From the fruit of Thy works is the earth satisfied.
10 Who is sending forth fountains in valleys, Between hills they go on.
28 In His strengthening clouds above, In His making strong fountains of the deep,
7 Remember Thou that my life `is' a breath, Mine eye turneth not back to see good.
9 I do not the fierceness of My anger, I turn not back to destroy Ephraim, For God I `am', and not a man. In thy midst the Holy One, and I enter not in enmity,
6 And he saith to him, `Lo, I pray thee, a man of God `is' in this city, and the man is honoured; all that he speaketh doth certainly come; now, we go there, it may be he doth declare to us our way on which we have gone.'
27 And to the land whither they are lifting up their soul to return, Thither they do not return.
2 And it cometh to pass, at Jeroboam son of Nebat's hearing (and he `is' yet in Egypt where he hath fled from the presence of Solomon the king, and Jeroboam dwelleth in Egypt),
27 And they recount to him, and say, `We came in unto the land whither thou hast sent us, and also it `is' flowing with milk and honey -- and this `is' its fruit;
20 and Joseph's lord taketh him, and putteth him unto the round-house, a place where the king's prisoners `are' bound; and he is there in the round-house.
8 They go up hills -- they go down valleys, Unto a place Thou hast founded for them.
7 `And if the scab spread greatly in the skin, after his being seen by the priest for his cleansing, then he hath been seen a second time by the priest;
34 And the priest hath seen the scall on the seventh day, and lo, the scall hath not spread in the skin, and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and the priest hath pronounced him clean, and he hath washed his garments, and hath been clean.
2 and there appeareth unto him a messenger of Jehovah in a flame of fire, out of the midst of the bush, and he seeth, and lo, the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed.