Ecclesiastes 1:11

11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

Ecclesiastes 1:11 in Other Translations

11 There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

11 There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.

11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

11 Nobody remembers what happened yesterday. And the things that will happen tomorrow? Nobody'll remember them either. Don't count on being remembered.

11 There is no memory of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no memory among those who follow [them].

Ecclesiastes 1:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 1:11

[There] is no remembrance of former [things]
Which is the reason why some things that are really old are thought to be new; because either the memories of men fail them, they do not remember the customs and usages which were in the former part of their own lives, now grown old; or they are ignorant of what were in ages past, through want of history, or defect in it; either they have no history at all, or what they have is false; or if true, as there is very little that is so, it is very deficient; and, among the many things that have been, very few are transmitted to posterity, so that the memory of things is lost; therefore who can say with certainty of anything, this is new, and was never known in the world before? and the same for the future will be the case of present things; see ( Ecclesiastes 2:16 ) ; neither shall there be any remembrance of [things] that are to come
with [those] that shall come after;
this will be the case of things present and future, that they will be buried in oblivion, and lie unknown to posterity that shall come after the things that are done; and if any person or persons should rise up and do the same things, they may be called new, though they are in fact old, for want of knowing that they were before. The Targum is,

``there is no remembrance of former generations; and even of later ones, that shall be, there will be no remembrance of them, with the generations of them that shall be in the days of the King Messiah.''

R. Alshech interprets it of the resurrection of the dead.

Ecclesiastes 1:11 In-Context

9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 40:23; Ecclesiastes 9:15
• 2. Psalms 88:12; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Ecclesiastes 8:10; Ecclesiastes 9:5