Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes (/ɪˌkliːziˈæstiːz/; Hebrew:

‫ק ֶֹה ֶלת‬, qōheleṯ, Greek: Ἐκκλησιαστής,
Ekklēsiastēs) written c. 450–200 BCE, is
one of the "Wisdom" books of the Old
Testament. The title is a Latin
transliteration of the Greek translation of
the Hebrew word Kohelet (also written as
Koheleth, Qoheleth or Qohelet). The
unnamed author introduces "Kohelet" as
the son of David (1:1); he does not use his
own voice again until the final verses
(12:9–14), where he gives his own
thoughts and summarises the statements
of "Kohelet".

Kohelet proclaims that all human actions

are hevel, "vapor" or "breath", meaning
"insubstantial", "vain", or "futile", since the
lives of both wise and foolish people all
end in death. While Qoheleth clearly
endorses wisdom as a means for a well-
lived earthly life, he is unable to ascribe
eternal meaning to it. In light of this
perceived senselessness, he suggests that
human beings should enjoy the simple
pleasures of daily life, such as eating,
drinking, and taking enjoyment in one's
work, which are gifts from the hand of
God. The book concludes with the
injunction to "Fear God, and keep his
commandments; for that is the whole duty
of everyone", but the Oxford Bible
Commentary notes that this "lends the
saying an orthodox tone which is quite
absent in the monologue."[1]

Title
Ecclesiastes is a phonetic transliteration of
the Greek word Ἐκκλησιαστής
(Ekklesiastes), which in the Septuagint
translates the Hebrew name of its stated
author, Kohelet (‫)ק ֶֹה ֶלת‬. The Greek word
derives from ekklesia (assembly)[2] as the
Hebrew word derives from kahal
(assembly),[3] but while the Greek word
means 'member of an assembly',[4] the
meaning of the original Hebrew word it
translates is less certain.[5] As Strong's
concordance mentions,[6] it is a female
active participle of the verb kahal in its
simple (Qal) paradigm, a form not used
elsewhere in the Bible and which is
sometimes understood as active or
passive depending on the verb,[7] so that
Kohelet would mean '(female) assembler'
in the active case (recorded as such by
Strong's concordance,[6]) and '(female)
assembled, member of an assembly' in the
passive case (as per the Septuagint
translators). According to the majority
understanding today,[5] the word is a more
general (mishkal ‫)קוֹט ֶלת‬
ֶ form rather than a
literal participle, and the intended meaning
of Kohelet in the text is 'someone speaking
before an assembly', hence 'Teacher' or
'Preacher'.

Structure
Ecclesiastes is presented as biography of
"Kohelet" or "Qoheleth"; his story is framed
by the voice of the narrator, who refers to
Kohelet in the third person, praises his
wisdom, but reminds the reader that
wisdom has its limitations and is not
man's main concern.[8] Kohelet reports
what he planned, did, experienced and
thought, but his journey to knowledge is, in
the end, incomplete; the reader is not only
to hear Kohelet's wisdom, but to observe
his journey towards understanding and
acceptance of life's frustrations and
uncertainties: the journey itself is
important.[9]

Few of the many attempts to uncover an

underlying structure to Ecclesiastes have
met with widespread acceptance; among
them, the following is one of the more
influential:[10]

Title (1:1)
Initial poem (1:2–11)
I: Kohelet's investigation of life (1:12–
6:9)
II: Kohelet's conclusions (6:10–11:6)
Introduction (6:10–12)
A: Man cannot discover what is
good for him to do (7:1–8:17)
B: Man does not know what will
come after him (9:1–11:6)
Concluding poem (11:7–12:8)
Epilogue (12:9–14)
Despite the acceptance by some of this
structure, there have been many scathing
criticisms, such as that of Fox: "[Addison
G. Wright's] proposed structure has no
more effect on interpretation than a ghost
in the attic. A literary or rhetorical structure
should not merely 'be there'; it must do
something. It should guide readers in
recognizing and remembering the author's
train of thought." [11]

Verse 1:1 is a superscription, the ancient

equivalent of a title page: it introduces the
book as "the words of Kohelet, son of
David, king in Jerusalem."[12]
Most, though not all, modern
commentators regard the epilogue (12:9–
14) as an addition by a later scribe. Some
have identified certain other statements as
further additions intended to make the
book more religiously orthodox (e.g., the
affirmations of God's justice and the need
for piety).[13]

Summary
The ten-verse introduction in verses 1:2–
11 are the words of the frame narrator;
they set the mood for what is to follow.
Kohelet's message is that all is
meaningless.[12]
After the introduction come the words of
Kohelet. As king he has experienced
everything and done everything, but
nothing is ultimately reliable. Death levels
all. The only good is to partake of life in
the present, for enjoyment is from the
hand of God. Everything is ordered in time
and people are subject to time in contrast
to God's eternal character. The world is
filled with injustice, which only God will
adjudicate. God and humans do not
belong in the same realm and it is
therefore necessary to have a right
attitude before God. People should enjoy,
but should not be greedy; no-one knows
what is good for humanity; righteousness
and wisdom escape us. Kohelet reflects
on the limits of human power: all people
face death, and death is better than life,
but we should enjoy life when we can. The
world is full of risk: he gives advice on
living with risk, both political and
economic. Mortals should take pleasure
when they can, for a time may come when
no one can. Kohelet's words finish with
imagery of nature languishing and
humanity marching to the grave.[14]

The frame narrator returns with an

epilogue: the words of the wise are hard,
but they are applied as the shepherd
applies goads and pricks to his flock. The
ending of the book sums up its message:
"Fear God and keep his commandments
for God will bring every deed to
judgement."[15] Apparently, 12:13-14 were
an addition by a more orthodox author
than the original writer.[16]

Composition

Title, date and author …

The book takes its name from the Greek

ekklesiastes, a translation of the title by
which the central figure refers to himself:
Kohelet, meaning something like "one who
convenes or addresses an assembly".[17]
According to rabbinic tradition,
Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in
his old age[18] (an alternative tradition that
"Hezekiah and his colleagues wrote Isaiah,
Proverbs, the Song of Songs and
Ecclesiastes" probably means simply that
the book was edited under Hezekiah),[19]
but critical scholars have long rejected the
idea of a pre-exilic origin.[20][21] The
presence of Persian loan-words and
Aramaisms points to a date no earlier than
about 450 BCE,[8] while the latest possible
date for its composition is 180 BCE, when
the Jewish writer Ben Sira quotes from
it.[22] The dispute as to whether
Ecclesiastes belongs to the Persian or the
Hellenistic periods (i.e., the earlier or later
part of this period) revolves around the
degree of Hellenization (influence of Greek
culture and thought) present in the book.
Scholars arguing for a Persian date (c.
450–330 BCE) hold that there is a
complete lack of Greek influence;[8] those
who argue for a Hellenistic date (c. 330–
180 BCE) argue that it shows internal
evidence of Greek thought and social
setting.[23]

Also unresolved is whether the author and

narrator of Kohelet are one and the same
person. Ecclesiastes regularly switches
between third-person quotations of
Kohelet and first-person reflections on
Kohelet's words, which would indicate the
book was written as a commentary on
Kohelet's parables rather than a
personally-authored repository of his
sayings. Some scholars have argued that
the third-person narrative structure is an
artificial literary device along the lines of
Uncle Remus, although the description of
the Kohelet in 12:8–14 seems to favour a
historical person whose thoughts are
presented by the narrator.[24] The question,
however, has no theological
importance,[24] and one scholar (Roland
Murphy) has commented that Kohelet
himself would have regarded the time and
ingenuity put into interpreting his book as
"one more example of the futility of human
effort".[25]

Genre and setting …

Ecclesiastes has taken its literary form

from the Middle Eastern tradition of the
fictional autobiography, in which a
character, often a king, relates his
experiences and draws lessons from them,
often self-critical: Kohelet likewise
identifies himself as a king, speaks of his
search for wisdom, relates his
conclusions, and recognises his
limitations.[9] It belongs to the category of
wisdom literature, the body of biblical
writings which give advice on life, together
with reflections on its problems and
meanings—other examples include the
Book of Job, Proverbs, and some of the
Psalms. Ecclesiastes differs from the
other biblical Wisdom books in being
deeply skeptical of the usefulness of
Wisdom itself.[26] Ecclesiastes in turn
influenced the deuterocanonical works,
Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach, both of
which contain vocal rejections of the
Ecclesiastical philosophy of futility.

Wisdom was a popular genre in the

ancient world, where it was cultivated in
scribal circles and directed towards young
men who would take up careers in high
officialdom and royal courts; there is
strong evidence that some of these books,
or at least sayings and teachings, were
translated into Hebrew and influenced the
Book of Proverbs, and the author of
Ecclesiastes was probably familiar with
examples from Egypt and
Mesopotamia.[27] He may also have been
influenced by Greek philosophy,
specifically the schools of Stoicism, which
held that all things are fated, and
Epicureanism, which held that happiness
was best pursued through the quiet
cultivation of life's simpler pleasures.[28]
Canonicity …

The presence of Ecclesiastes in the Bible

is something of a puzzle, as the common
themes of the Hebrew canon—a God who
reveals and redeems, who elects and
cares for a chosen people—are absent
from it, which suggests that Kohelet had
lost his faith in his old age. Understanding
the book was a topic of the earliest
recorded discussions (the hypothetical
Council of Jamnia in the 1st century CE).
One argument advanced at that time was
that the name of Solomon carried enough
authority to ensure its inclusion; however,
other works which appeared with
Solomon's name were excluded despite
being more orthodox than Ecclesiastes.[29]
Another was that the words of the
epilogue, in which the reader is told to fear
God and keep his commands, made it
orthodox; but all later attempts to find
anything in the rest of the book that would
reflect this orthodoxy have failed. A
modern suggestion treats the book as a
dialogue in which different statements
belong to different voices, with Kohelet
himself answering and refuting
unorthodox opinions, but there are no
explicit markers for this in the book, as
there are (for example) in the Book of Job.
Yet another suggestion is that
Ecclesiastes is simply the most extreme
example of a tradition of skepticism, but
none of the proposed examples match
Ecclesiastes for a sustained denial of faith
and doubt in the goodness of God. "In
short, we do not know why or how this
book found its way into such esteemed
company", summarizes Martin A. Shields
in his 2006 book The End of Wisdom: A
Reappraisal of the Historical and Canonical
Function of Ecclesiastes.[30]

Themes
Scholars disagree about the themes of
Ecclesiastes: whether it is positive and life-
affirming, or deeply pessimistic;[31]
whether it is coherent or incoherent,
insightful or confused, orthodox or
heterodox; whether the ultimate message
of the book is to copy Kohelet, the wise
man, or to avoid his errors.[32] At times
Kohelet raises deep questions; he
"doubted every aspect of religion, from the
very ideal of righteousness, to the by now
traditional idea of divine justice for
individuals".[33] Some passages of
Ecclesiastes seem to contradict other
portions of the Old Testament, and even
itself.[31] The Talmud even suggests that
the rabbis considered censoring
Ecclesiastes due to its seeming
contradictions.[34] One suggestion for
resolving the contradictions is to read the
book as the record of Kohelet's quest for
knowledge: opposing judgments (e.g., "the
dead are better off than the living" (4:2) vs.
"a living dog is better off than a dead lion"
(9:4) are therefore provisional, and it is
only at the conclusion that the verdict is
delivered (11–12:7). On this reading,
Kohelet's sayings are goads, designed to
provoke dialogue and reflection in his
readers, rather than to reach premature
and self-assured conclusions.[35]

The subjects of Ecclesiastes are the pain

and frustration engendered by observing
and meditating on the distortions and
inequities pervading the world, the
uselessness of human deeds, and the
limitations of wisdom and righteousness.
The phrase "under the sun" appears
twenty-nine times in connection with these
observations; all this coexists with a firm
belief in God, whose power, justice and
unpredictability are sovereign.[36] History
and nature move in cycles, so that all
events are predetermined and
unchangeable, and life has no meaning or
purpose: the wise man and the man who
does not study wisdom will both die and
be forgotten: man should be reverent
("Fear God"), but in this life it is best to
simply enjoy God's gifts.[28]

Judaism
In Judaism, Ecclesiastes is read either on
Shemini Atzeret (by Yemenites, Italians,
some Sepharadim, and the mediaeval
French Jewish rite) or on the Shabbat of
the Intermediate Days of Sukkot (by
Ashkenazim). If there is no Intermediate
Sabbath of Sukkot, Ashkenazim too read it
on Shemini Atzeret (or, in Israel, on the first
Shabbat of Sukkot). It is read on Sukkot as
a reminder not to get too caught up in the
festivities of the holiday, and to carry over
the happiness of Sukkot to the rest of the
year by telling the listeners that, without
God, life is meaningless.

The final poem of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes

12:1–8 ) has been interpreted in the
Targum, Talmud and Midrash, and by the
rabbis Rashi, Rashbam and ibn Ezra, as an
allegory of old age.

Catholicism
Ecclesiastes has been cited in the writings
of past and current Catholic Church
leaders. For example, doctors of the
Church have cited Ecclesiastes. St.
Augustine of Hippo cited Ecclesiastes in
Book XX of City of God.[37] Saint Jerome
wrote a commentary on Ecclesiastes.[38]
St. Thomas Aquinas cited Ecclesiastes
("The number of fools is infinite.") in his
Summa Theologica.[39]

The twentieth-century Catholic theologian

and cardinal-elect Hans Urs von Balthasar
discusses Ecclesiastes in his work on
theological aesthetics, The Glory of the
Lord. He describes Qoheleth as "a critical
transcendentalist avant la lettre", whose
God is distant from the world, and whose
kairos is a "form of time which is itself
empty of meaning". For Balthasar, the role
of Ecclesiastes in the Biblical canon is to
represent the "final dance on the part of
wisdom, [the] conclusion of the ways of
man", a logical end-point to the unfolding
of human wisdom in the Old Testament
that paves the way for the advent of the
New.[40]

The book continues to be cited by recent

popes, including Pope John Paul II and
Pope Francis. Pope John Paul II, in his
general audience of October 20, 2004,
called the author of Ecclesiastes "an
ancient biblical sage" whose description of
death "makes frantic clinging to earthly
things completely pointless."[41] Pope
Francis cited Ecclesiastes on his address
on September 9, 2014. Speaking of vain
people, he said, "How many Christians live
for appearances? Their life seems like a
soap bubble."[42]

Influence on Western
literature
Ecclesiastes has had a deep influence on
Western literature. It contains several
phrases that have resonated in British and
American culture, such as "eat, drink and
be merry", "nothing new under the sun", "a
time to be born and a time to die", and
"vanity of vanities; all is vanity".[43]
American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote: "
[O]f all I have ever seen or learned, that
book seems to me the noblest, the wisest,
and the most powerful expression of
man's life upon this earth—and also the
highest flower of poetry, eloquence, and
truth. I am not given to dogmatic
judgments in the matter of literary
creation, but if I had to make one I could
say that Ecclesiastes is the greatest single
piece of writing I have ever known, and the
wisdom expressed in it the most lasting
and profound."[44]

Abraham Lincoln quoted Ecclesiastes

1:4 in his address to the reconvening
Congress on December 1, 1862, during
the darkest hours of the American Civil
War: "'One generation passeth away, and
another generation cometh: but the
earth abideth for ever.' ... Our strife
pertains to ourselves—to the passing
generations of men; and it can without
convulsion be hushed forever with the
passing of one generation."[45]
President-Elect Joe Biden referred to
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-3 during his winning
speech after the 2020 United States
presidential election: "The Bible tells us
that to everything there is a season — a
time to build, a time to reap, a time to
sow. And a time to heal."
The opening of William Shakespeare's
Sonnet 59 references Ecclesiastes 1:9–
10.
Line 23 of T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"
alludes to Ecclesiastes 12:5.
Leo Tolstoy's Confession describes how
the reading of Ecclesiastes affected his
life.
Robert Burns' "Address to the Unco
Guid" begins with a verse appeal to
Ecclesiastes 7:16.
The title of Ernest Hemingway's first
novel The Sun Also Rises comes from
Ecclesiastes 1:5.
The title of Edith Wharton's novel The
House of Mirth was taken from
Ecclesiastes 7:4 ("The heart of the wise
is in the house of mourning; but the
heart of fools is in the house of mirth.").
The title of Laura Lippman's novel Every
Secret Thing and that of its film
adaptation come from Ecclesiastes
12:14 ("For God shall bring every work
into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether it be good, or whether it be
evil.").
The main character in George Bernard
Shaw's short story The Adventures of the
Black Girl in Her Search for God[46] meets
Koheleth, "known to many as
Ecclesiastes".
The title and theme of George R.
Stewart's post-apocalyptic novel Earth
Abides is from Ecclesiastes 1:4.
In the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451,
Ray Bradbury's main character, Montag,
memorizes much of Ecclesiastes and
Revelation in a world where books are
forbidden and burned.
Pete Seeger's song "Turn! Turn! Turn!"
takes all but one of its lines from the
Book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
The passage in chapter 3, with its
repetition of “A time to ...” has been used
 as a title in many other cases, including
the novels ‘A Time to Dance’ by Melvyn
Bragg and ‘A Time to Kill‘ by John
Grisham, the records ...And a Time to
Dance by Los Lobos and A Time to Love
by Stevie Wonder, and films A Time to
Love and a Time to Die, A Time to Live
and A Time to Kill (1996 Film).

See also
Bible
Q, novel by Luther Blissett
A Rose for Ecclesiastes
Tanakh
"Turn! Turn! Turn!"
 Vanitas
Vier ernste Gesänge
Wisdom of Sirach
The Song

Citations
1. Weeks 2007, pp. 428–429.
2. "Greek Word Study Tool" .
www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved
2020-07-28.
3. "Strong's Hebrew: 6951. ‫( ָק ָהל‬qahal) --
assembly, convocation,
congregation" . biblehub.com.
Retrieved 2020-07-29.
 4. "Greek Word Study Tool" .
www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved
2020-07-28.
5. Even-Shoshan, Avraham (2003). Even-
Shoshan Dictionary. pp. Entry "‫"ק ֶֹהלֶ ת‬.
6. "H6953 ‫ קהלת‬- Strong's Hebrew
Lexicon" . studybible.info. Retrieved
2020-07-28.
7. as opposed to the Hifil form, always
active 'to assemble', and niphal form,
always passive 'to be assembled' --
both forms often used in the Bible.
8. Seow 2007, p. 944.
9. Fox 2004, p. xiii.
10. Fox 2004, p. xvi.
11. Fox 2004, p. 148-149.
12. Longman 1998, pp. 57–59.
13. Fox 2004, p. xvii.
14. Seow 2007, pp. 946–57.
15. Seow 2007, pp. 957–58.
16. Ross, Allen P.; Shepherd, Jerry E.;
Schwab, George (7 March 2017).
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Songs . Zondervan Academic. p. 448.
ISBN 978-0-310-53185-2.
17. Gilbert 2009, pp. 124–25.
18. Brown 2011, p. 11.
19. Smith 2007, p. 692.
20. Fox 2004, p. x.
21. Bartholomew 2009, pp. 50–52.
22. Fox 2004, p. xiv.
23. Bartholomew 2009, pp. 54–55.
24. Bartholomew 2009, p. 48.
25. Ingram 2006, p. 45.
26. Brettler 2007, p. 721.
27. Fox 2004, pp. x–xi.
28. Gilbert 2009, p. 125.
29. Diderot, Denis (1752). "Canon".
Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert -
Collaborative Translation Project:
601–04.
hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.566 .
30. Shields 2006, pp. 1-5.
31. Bartholomew 2009, p. 17.
32. Enns 2011, p. 21.
33. Hecht, Jennifer Michael (2003). Doubt:
A History . New York: HarperCollins.
pp. 75 . ISBN 978-0-06-009795-0.
34. Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 30b.
35. Brown 2011, pp. 17–18.
36. Fox 2004, p. ix.
37. Augustine. "Book XX". The City of
God .
38. Jerome. Commentary on
Ecclesiastes .
39. Thomas Aquinas. Summa
Theologica .
40. von Balthasar, Hans Urs (1991). The
Glory of the Lord. Volume VI:
Theology: The Old Covenant.
Translated by Brian McNeil and
Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis. Edinburgh:
T&T Clark. pp. 137–43.
41. Manhardt, Laurie (2009). Come and
See: Wisdom of the Bible . Emmaus
Road Publishing. p. 115.
ISBN 9781931018555.
42. Pope Francis. "Pope Francis: Vain
Christians are like soap bubbles" .
Radio Vatican. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
43. Hirsch, E.D. (2002). The New
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy .
 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 8 .
ISBN 0618226478.
44. Christianson 2007, p. 70.
45. Foote, Shelby (1986). The Civil War, a
narrative, vol. 1 . Vintage Books.
pp. 807–08. ISBN 9780307744678.
46. Shaw, Bernard (2006). The adventures
of the black girl in her search for God.
London: Hesperus. ISBN 1843914220.
OCLC 65469757 .

References
Bartholomew, Craig G. (2009).
Ecclesiastes . Baker Academic.
ISBN 9780801026911.
Brettler, Mark Zvi (2007). "The Poetical
and Wisdom Books" . In Coogan,
Michael D. (ed.). The New Oxford
Annotated Bible (3rd ed.). Oxford
University Press. ISBN 9780195288803.
Brown, William P. (2011). Ecclesiastes:
Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for
Teaching and Preaching . Westminster
John Knox Press.
ISBN 9780664238247.
Christianson, Eric S. (2007). Ecclesiastes
Through the Centuries . Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN 9780631225294.
Coogan, Michael D. (2008). The Old
Testament: A Very Short Introduction .
Oxford University Press.
ISBN 9780199719464.
Diderot, Denis (1752). "Canon". The
Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert
Collaborative Translation Project.
Translated by Susan Emanuel (2006).
hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.566 . Trans.
of "Canon",  Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire
raisonné des sciences, des arts et des
métiers, vol. 2. Paris, 1752.
Eaton, Michael (2009). Ecclesiastes: An
Introduction and Commentary . IVP
Academic. Archived from the original
on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
Enns, Peter (2011). Ecclesiastes .
Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802866493.
Fredericks, Daniel C.; Estes, Daniel J.
(2010). Ecclesiastes & the Song of
Songs . IVP Academic. Archived from
the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved
2013-01-07.
Fox, Michael V. (2004). The JPS Bible
Commentary: Ecclesiastes . Jewish
Publication Society.
ISBN 9780827609655.
Gilbert, Christopher (2009). A Complete
Introduction to the Bible: A Literary and
Historical Introduction to the Bible .
Paulist Press. ISBN 9780809145522.
Hecht, Jennifer Michael (2003). Doubt: A
History . New York: HarperCollins.
ISBN 978-0-06-009795-0.
Ingram, Doug (2006). Ambiguity in
Ecclesiastes . Continuum.
ISBN 9780567027115.
Krüger, Thomas (2004). Qohelet: A
Commentary . Fortress.
ISBN 9780800660369.
Longman, Tremper (1998). The Book of
Ecclesiastes . Eerdmans.
ISBN 9780802823663.
Ricasoli, Corinna, ed. (2018). The Living
Dead: Ecclesiastes through Art.
Ferdinand Schöningh.
ISBN 9783506732767.
Rudman, Dominic (2001). Determinism
in the Book of Ecclesiastes . Sheffield
Academic Press. ISBN 9780567215635.
Seow, C.L. (2007). "Ecclesiastes" . In
Coogan, Michael D. (ed.). The New
Oxford Annotated Bible (3rd ed.). Oxford
University Press. ISBN 9780195288803.
Shields, Martin A. (2006). The End of
Wisdom: A Reappraisal of the Historical
and Canonical Function of Ecclesiastes .
Eisenbrauns. ISBN 9781575061023.
Smith, James (1996). The Wisdom
Literature and Psalms. College Press.
 ISBN 9780899004396.
Weeks, Stuart (25 January 2007).
Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.).
The Oxford Bible Commentary . Oxford
University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927718-
6.

External links

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Ecclesiastes (Bible)

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Translations
Kohelet – Ecclesiastes (Judaica Press)
translation [with Rashi's commentary] at
Chabad.org
Ecclesiastes: New Revised Standard
Version
Ecclesiastes: Douay Rheims Bible
Version
Ecclesiastes at Wikisource (Authorised
King James Version)
Ecclesiastes at United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops (New
 American Bible)
Ecclesiastes at Bible Gateway (New
King James Version)
A Metaphrase of the Book Of
Ecclesiastes by Gregory Thaumaturgus.
Ecclesiastes public domain audiobook
at LibriVox – Various versions

Ecclesiastes
Wisdom literature

Preceded by Succeeded by
Hebrew Bible
Lamentations Esther

Christian Succeeded by
Preceded by
Old Song of
Proverbs
Testament Songs
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