Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 1:7
All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The teacher in Ecclesiastes addresses a general audience while cataloging natural patterns to frame his observation on the repetitive nature of existence.
The words — The phrase אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא ('ei.Ne./nu ma.Le') literally means "not it [is] full," directly describing the sea's permanent state of unsatisfaction despite constant inflow.
The thread — The imagery of bounded waters recurs in Job 38:10 where God establishes the sea's limits, and in Psalms 104:6 where waters stand above the mountains, both pointing to divine containment of natural forces.
Why it lands — The text states that rivers pour into an unsatisfied sea only to return to their source, requiring the reader to acknowledge that natural systems and human efforts operate in closed loops without accumulating lasting gain.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Job 38:10 when I fixed its boundaries and set in place its bars and doors,
- Psalms 104:6 You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.