Skip to content

Passage Research

Ecclesiastes 1 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Ecclesiastes 1, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

18
verses
215 / 98
Hebrew words / lemmas
6
classic sermon excerpts
3
preachers & commentators

Ecclesiastes 1 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
הֶבֶל hebel H1892 6 emptiness, vanity
שֶׁמֶשׁ shemesh H8121 5 sun, east
חׇכְמָה chokmâh H2451 5 wisdom
קֹהֶלֶת qôheleth H6953 3 assembler, preaching
הָלַךְ hâlak H1980 5 walk
רוּחַ rûwach H7307 4 wind, breath
לֵב lêb H3820 4 heart, feelings

How preachers through history handled this text

6 public-domain excerpts on Ecclesiastes 1, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Alexander MacLaren 3 Matthew Henry 2 John Wesley 1

“TWO VIEWS OF LIFE This sore travail hath God given to the sons of man, to be exercised therewith.'--ECCLES. i. 13. He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.'--HEBREWS xii. 10. These two texts set before us human life as it looks to two observers. The former admits that God shapes it; but to him it seems sore travail, the expenditure of much trouble and efforts; the results of which seem to be nothing beyond profitless exercise. There is an immense activity and nothing to show for it at the end but wearied limbs. …”

— Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of the Holy Scriptures: Second Kings from Chap., on Ecclesiastes 1:13–30 (Public Domain)

Places in the text

Based on ancient-geography data

  • Jerusalem — Eccl 1:1

Need the complete sermon prep report on this passage?

Greek exegesis, historical background, current scholarship, sermon outlines, illustrations — a complete PDF report on Ecclesiastes 1, delivered in 45 minutes.