Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, May 10th, 2025
the Third Week after Easter
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

New Century Version

Ecclesiastes 1:18

With much wisdom comes much disappointment; the person who gains more knowledge also gains more sorrow.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Instruction;   Investigation;   Wisdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Knowledge;   Knowledge-Ignorance;   The Topic Concordance - Knowledge;   Sorrow;   Wisdom;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Vanity;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ecclesiastes, Book of;   Poetry;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Winter ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for August 9;   Every Day Light - Devotion for October 2;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For with much wisdom is much sorrow;as knowledge increases, grief increases.
Hebrew Names Version
For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
King James Version
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
English Standard Version
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
New American Standard Bible
Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
Amplified Bible
For in much [human] wisdom there is much displeasure and exasperation; increasing knowledge increases sorrow.
World English Bible
For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For in the multitude of wisedome is much griefe: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorowe.
Legacy Standard Bible
Because in much wisdom there is much vexation, and whoever increases knowledge increases pain.
Berean Standard Bible
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
Contemporary English Version
The more you know, the more you hurt; the more you understand, the more you suffer.
Complete Jewish Bible
For in much wisdom is much grief; the more knowledge, the more suffering.
Darby Translation
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Easy-to-Read Version
With much wisdom comes frustration. The one who gains more wisdom also gains more sorrow.
George Lamsa Translation
Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Good News Translation
The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.
Lexham English Bible
For in much wisdom is much frustration, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Literal Translation
For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases pain.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for where moch wy?dome is, there is also greate trauayle & disquietnes: & ye more knowlege a man hath, the more is his care.
American Standard Version
For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Bible in Basic English
Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For in much wisdom is much vexation; and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
King James Version (1611)
For in much wisedome is much griefe: and hee that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For where much wisdome is, there is also great trauayle and disquietnesse: and the more knowledge a man hath, the more is his care.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For in the abundance of wisdom is abundance of knowledge; and he that increases knowledge will increase sorrow.
English Revised Version
For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for in myche wisdom is myche indignacioun, and he that encressith kunnyng, encreessith also trauel.
Update Bible Version
For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Webster's Bible Translation
For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
New English Translation
For with great wisdom comes great frustration; whoever increases his knowledge merely increases his heartache.
New King James Version
For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
New Living Translation
The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
New Life Bible
Because in much wisdom there is much trouble. And he who gets much learning gets much sorrow.
New Revised Standard
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, in much wisdom, is much vexation, - and, he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth pain.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Because in much wisdom there is much indignation: and he that addeth knowledge, addeth also labour.
Revised Standard Version
For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
Young's Literal Translation
for, in abundance of wisdom [is] abundance of sadness, and he who addeth knowledge addeth pain.'
THE MESSAGE
Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

Contextual Overview

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I decided to use my wisdom to learn about everything that happens on earth. I learned that God has given us terrible things to face. 14 I looked at everything done on earth and saw that it is all useless, like chasing the wind. 15 If something is crooked, you can't make it straight. If something is missing, you can't say it is there. 16 I said to myself, "I have become very wise and am now wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are." 17 So I decided to find out about wisdom and knowledge and also about foolish thinking, but this turned out to be like chasing the wind. 18 With much wisdom comes much disappointment; the person who gains more knowledge also gains more sorrow.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For in: Ecclesiastes 2:15, Ecclesiastes 7:16, Ecclesiastes 12:12, Ecclesiastes 12:13, Job 28:28, 1 Corinthians 3:18-20, James 3:13-17

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 1:14 - General Ecclesiastes 6:11 - General Daniel 10:16 - my sorrows

Cross-References

Psalms 19:6
The sun rises at one end of the sky and follows its path to the other end. Nothing hides from its heat.
Jeremiah 31:35
The Lord makes the sun shine in the day and the moon and stars to shine at night. He stirs up the sea so that its waves crash on the shore. The Lord All-Powerful is his name. This is what the Lord says:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For in much wisdom [is] much grief,.... In getting it, and losing it when it is gotten: or "indignation" t, at himself and others; being more sensible of the follies and weakness of human nature;

and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow: for, the more he knows, the more he would know, and is more eager after it, and puts himself to more pains and trouble to acquire it; and hereby becomes more and more sensible of his own ignorance; and of the difficulty of attaining the knowledge he would come at; and of the insufficiency of it to make him easy and happy: and besides, the more knowledge he has, the more envy it draws upon him from others, who set themselves to oppose him, and detract from his character; in short, this is the sum of all human knowledge and wisdom, attained to in the highest degree; instead of making men comfortable and happy, it is found to be mere vanity, to cause vexation and disquietude of mind, and to promote grief and sorrow. There is indeed wisdom and knowledge opposite to this, and infinitely more excellent, and which, the more it is increased, the more joy and comfort it brings; and this is wisdom in the hidden part; a spiritual and experimental knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of divine and evangelical truths; but short of this knowledge there is no true peace, comfort, and happiness. The Targum is,

"for a man who multiplies wisdom, when he sins and does not turn by repentance, he multiplies indignation from the Lord; and he who increases knowledge, and dies in his youth, increases grief of heart to those who are near akin to him.''

t רב כעס "multa ira", Pagninus, Montanus; "indignatio", V. L. Tigurine version, Vatablus, Drusius; "multum indignationis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We become more sensible of our ignorance and impotence, and therefore sorrowful, in proportion as we discover more of the constitution of nature and the scheme of Providence in the government of the world; every discovery serving to convince us that more remains concealed of which we had no suspicion before.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 1:18. For in much wisdom is much grief — The more we know of ourselves the less satisfied shall we be with our own hearts; and the more we know of mankind the less willing shall we be to trust them, and the less shall we admire them.

He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. — And why so? Because, independently of God, the principal objects of knowledge are natural and moral evils.

The Targum gives a curious paraphrase here: "The man who multiplies wisdom, when he sins and is not converted to repentance, multiplies the indignation of God against himself; and the man who adds science, and yet dies in his childhood, adds grief of heart to his relatives." A man in science; a foolish child in conduct. How pained must they be who had the expense of his education! But there are many men-children of this sort in every age and country.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile