Ecclesiastes - 1:11



11 There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Ecclesiastes 1:11.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
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.
There is no remembrance of the former generations ; neither shall there be any remembrance of the latter generations that are to come, among those that shall come after.
There is no remembrance of former things: nor indeed of those things which hereafter are to come, shall there be any remembrance with them that shall be in the latter end.
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be remembrance of things that are to come with those who shall live afterwards.
There is not a remembrance of former generations; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last.
There is no memory of those who have gone before, and of those who come after there will be no memory for those who are still to come after them.
There is no remembrance of them of former times; neither shall there be any remembrance of them of latter times that are to come, among those that shall come after.
There is no remembrance of the former things. Indeed, neither shall there be any record of past things in the future, for those who will exist at the very end.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Things - Rather, men.

There is no remembrance - I believe the general meaning to be this: Multitudes of ancient transactions have been lost, because they were not recorded; and of many that have been recorded, the records are lost. And this will be the case with many others which are yet to occur. How many persons, not much acquainted with books, have supposed that certain things were their own discoveries, which have been written or printed even long before they were born! Dutens, in his Origin of the Discoveries attributed to the Moderns, has made a very clear case.

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.

The reason why some things are thought "new," which are not really so, is the imperfect record that exists of preceding ages among their successors.
those that . . . come after--that is, those that live still later than the "things, rather the persons or generations, Ecclesiastes 1:4, with which this verse is connected, the six intermediate verses being merely illustrations of Ecclesiastes 1:4 [WEISS], that are to come" (Ecclesiastes 2:16; Ecclesiastes 9:5).

"There is no remembrance of ancestors; and also of the later ones who shall come into existence, there will be no remembrance for them with those who shall come into existence after them." With זכּרון (with Kametz) there is also זכרון, the more common form by our author, in accordance with the usage of his age; Gesen., Elst., and others regard it here and at Ecclesiastes 2:16 as constr., and thus לרא as virtually object-gen. (Jerome, non est priorum memoria); but such refinements of the old syntaxis ornata are not to be expected in our author: he changes (according to the traditional punctuation) here the initial sound, as at Ecclesiastes 1:17 the final sound, to oth and uth. אין ל is the contrast of היה ל: to attribute to one, to become partaker of. The use of the expression, "for them," gives emphasis to the statement. "With those who shall come after," points from the generation that is future to a remoter future, cf. Genesis 33:2. The Kametz of the prep. is that of the recompens. art.; cf. Numbers 2:31, where it denotes "the last" among the four hosts; for there הא is meant of the last in order, as here it is meant of the remotely future time.

No remembrance - This seems to be added to prevent the objection, There are many inventions and enjoyments unknown to former ages. To this he answers, This objection is grounded only upon our ignorance of ancient times which if we exactly knew or remembered, we should easily find parallels to all present occurrences. There are many thousands of remarkable speeches and actions done in this and the following ages which neither are, nor ever will be, put into the publick records or histories, and consequently must unavoidably be forgotten in succeeding ages; and therefore it is just and reasonable to believe the same concerning former ages.

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