Ecclesiastes 12:8

8 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”

Ecclesiastes 12:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 12:8

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher
The wise man, or preacher, set out in the beginning of the book with this doctrine, or proposition, which he undertook to prove; and now having proved it by an induction of particulars, instanced in the wisdom, wealth, honours, pleasures, and profit of men, and shown the vanity of them, and that the happiness of men lies not in these things, but in the knowledge and fear of God; he repeats it, and most strongly asserts it, as an undoubted truth beyond all dispute and contradiction, that all things under the sun are not only vain, but vanity itself, extremely vain, vain in the superlative degree; all [is] vanity;
all things in the world are vain; all creatures are subject to vanity; man in every state, and in his best estate, is altogether vanity: this the wise man might with great confidence affirm, after he had shown that not only childhood and youth are vanity, but even old age; the infirmities, sorrows, and distresses of which he had just exposed, and observed that all issue in death, the last end of man, when his body returns to the earth, and his soul to God the giver of it.

Ecclesiastes 12:8 In-Context

6 Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well,

7 before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

8 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”

9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also taught the people knowledge; he pondered, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.

10 The Teacher searched to find delightful sayings and to record accurate words of truth.