Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 1:8
All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses readers amid an examination of natural and human cycles, positioned immediately after describing rivers that flow endlessly into an unsated sea and just before declaring that nothing under the sun is new. He speaks to anyone observing the repetitive, unfulfilling patterns of earthly existence.
The words — יְגֵעִים (ye.ge.'Im) translates literally to "wearisome" or "exhausting," while לֹא יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר (lo yu.khal ish le.da.ber) means "no one is able to speak [them]." These terms frame the totality of human experience as fundamentally draining and inexpressible.
The thread — The motif of insatiable perception appears in Proverbs 27:20, which states that "the eyes of man are never satisfied," and recurs in Ecclesiastes 4:8 regarding a solitary laborer whose "eyes are still not satisfied." The theme of unfulfilled sensory desire also contrasts with the rest offered in Matthew 11:28.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers acknowledge the inherent limits of human perception and labor, recognizing that sensory and intellectual pursuits leave the observer perpetually unfulfilled. It calls for a clear-eyed assessment of earthly cycles before seeking resolution elsewhere.
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 things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- Ecclesiastes 4:8 There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.
- Psalms 63:5 My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.
- Proverbs 30:15 The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
- Ecclesiastes 2:11 Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Ecclesiastes 5:10 He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
- Ecclesiastes 7:24 What exists is out of reach and very deep. Who can fathom it?