Ecclesiastes 1 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 1:17, 1:18
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 1
Hebrew source [BHS1] • Greek source [LXX1]
Cycles, wisdom and vexation (1:1–18)
Verse 1:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:1] The words of Qoheleth, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:1] The words of Ecclesiastes, son of David, king of Israel in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds Israel to the title. Qoheleth and Ecclesiastes are the respective Hebrew and Greek designations associated with an assembly; neither is replaced with an unexpressed personal name.
Verse 1:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:2] Vapor of vapors, said Qoheleth; vapor of vapors, everything is vapor.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:2] Futility of futilities, said Ecclesiastes; futility of futilities, everything is futility.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew hevel literally evokes vapor or breath, with fleetingness and elusiveness among its possible implications. Greek mataiotes explicitly emphasizes futility. The recurring terms remain distinct rather than reduced to one interpretation everywhere.
Verse 1:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:3] What surplus does a person gain from all the toil with which he toils beneath the sun?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:3] What surplus does a person gain from all the toil with which he toils beneath the sun?
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both ask about the surplus or lasting advantage of labor; the question is not expanded into a statement about all value.
Verse 1:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:4] A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:4] A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The generational contrast agrees. Forever renders the long-duration expression without imposing a scientific cosmology.
Verse 1:5 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:5] The sun rises, and the sun sets; it pants toward its place, where it rises again.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:5] The sun rises, and the sun sets, and draws toward its place.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The final Hebrew rising clause appears at the beginning of Greek 1:6. Greek draws differs from Hebrew pants. Source boundaries are preserved without omission or duplication.
Verse 1:6 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:6] It goes toward the south and turns toward the north; round and round the wind goes, and on its circuits the wind returns.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:6] Rising there, it goes toward the south and circles toward the north. Round and round the wind goes, and on its circuits the wind returns.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek begins with the sun's rising clause corresponding to Hebrew 1:5, making the first motion more clearly solar before naming the wind. Hebrew delays naming the wind until the middle of the verse.
Verse 1:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:7] All the streams go to the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place where the streams go, there they return to go again.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:7] All the streams go to the sea, yet the sea will not be filled. To the place where the streams go, there they return to go again.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The repeated movement agrees; Greek describes the sea with a future construction. No modern hydrological explanation is inserted.
Verse 1:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:8] All things are wearisome; no one can speak them fully. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:8] All words are wearisome; a man will not be able to speak. The eye will not be filled with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew devarim permits things or words; things is chosen, with fully supplying the implied scope. Greek explicitly has words and a more bare inability to speak.
Verse 1:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:9] What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new beneath the sun.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:9] What has come to be is what will come to be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing fresh beneath the sun.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The cyclical assertion agrees; fresh renders Greek prosphaton.
Verse 1:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:10] Is there a thing of which someone says, Look, this is new? It has already existed in the ages that were before us.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:10] Whoever speaks and says, Look, this is new—it has already come to be in the ages that were before us.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew begins with a thing; Greek with a person speaking. The assertion of prior existence agrees.
Verse 1:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:11] There is no remembrance of the former ones, nor will there be remembrance of the later ones who will come among those who come afterward.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:11] There is no remembrance of the first ones, nor will the last ones who have come to be have remembrance among those who will come at the end.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The respective temporal formulations are retained. The first and last ones may denote people or events; the English does not settle that scope.
Verse 1:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:12] I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:12] I, Ecclesiastes, became king over Israel in Jerusalem.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek egenomen is became; Hebrew hayiti is was. No historical reconstruction is added.
Verse 1:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:13] I set my heart to seek and explore by wisdom everything done beneath the heavens. It is a grievous occupation God has given human beings to be occupied with.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:13] I set my heart to seek out and examine by wisdom everything that happens beneath heaven, for God gave human beings a grievous distraction to be distracted by.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek perispasmos emphasizes distracting preoccupation where Hebrew inyan names an occupation or task. Human beings renders the respective sons-of-man idioms.
Verse 1:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:14] I saw all the deeds done beneath the sun, and look, everything is vapor and pursuit of wind.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:14] I saw all the works done beneath the sun, and look, everything is futility and resolve of spirit.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew re‘ut ruah is provisionally pursuit of wind; Greek proairesis pneumatos is rendered resolve of spirit, retaining its volitional noun. Spirit or wind remains a lexical possibility in Greek; it is not silently rewritten as the Hebrew idiom.
Verse 1:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:15] What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:15] What is twisted cannot be put in order, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek's ordering verb is broader than Hebrew making straight; the second clause agrees.
Verse 1:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:16] I spoke with my heart, saying: Look, I have greatly increased wisdom beyond everyone who was over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:16] I spoke in my heart, saying: Look, I became great and added wisdom beyond everyone who was in Jerusalem before me, and my heart saw much—wisdom and knowledge.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew over Jerusalem becomes Greek in Jerusalem. The first-person assessment is retained as the speaker's statement.
Verse 1:17 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:17] I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I knew that this too is pursuit of wind.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:17] I set my heart to know wisdom and knowledge; I came to know comparisons and understanding, for this too is resolve of spirit.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek comparisons and understanding differ substantially from Hebrew madness and folly. The two pursuits are not harmonized.
Verse 1:18 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[1:18] For in much wisdom is much vexation, and whoever increases knowledge increases pain.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[1:18] For in much wisdom is much knowledge, and whoever increases knowledge will increase pain.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek has knowledge where Hebrew has vexation in the first clause. Both retain the increase of pain in the second.