Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 1:6
The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses Israel in Jerusalem, observing natural phenomena to frame his reflection on the repetitive, unchanging nature of life under the sun.
The words — The Hebrew verb סוֹבֵב (so.Vev) appears three times to mean "circling around," while דָּר֔וֹם (da.Rom) and צָפ֑וֹן (tza.Fon) designate the southern and northern directions.
The thread — This account of directional wind patterns runs parallel to the sun’s daily return in Ecclesiastes 1:5 and the rivers’ endless flow to the sea in Ecclesiastes 1:7.
Why it lands — The text first establishes that the wind moves in a fixed, observable circuit before asking the reader to acknowledge that natural forces operate by consistent design rather than random chance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
Cross-references
- John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- Ecclesiastes 11:5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the bones are formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
- Job 37:9 The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.
- Job 37:17 You whose clothes get hot when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
- Psalms 107:25 For He spoke and raised a tempest that lifted the waves of the sea.
- Psalms 107:29 He calmed the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
- Jonah 1:4 Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship was in danger of breaking apart.
- Matthew 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
- Matthew 7:27 The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”
- Acts 27:13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.