Teks -- Ecclesiastes 1:7 (NET)

1:7 All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Ecc 1:7 - Is not full

So as to overflow the earth. Whereby also he intimates the emptiness of mens minds, notwithstanding all the abundance of creature comforts.

Wesley: Ecc 1:7 - Rivers come

Unto the earth in general, from whence they come or flow into the sea, and to which they return by the reflux of the sea. For he seems to speak of the visible and constant motion of the waters, both to the sea and from it, and then to it again in a perpetual reciprocation.

JFB: Ecc 1:7

By subterraneous cavities, and by evaporation forming rain clouds, the fountains and rivers are supplied from the sea, into which they then flow back. The connection is: Individual men are continually changing, while the succession of the race continues; just as the sun, wind, and rivers are ever shifting about, while the cycle in which they move is invariable; they return to the point whence they set out. Hence is man, as in these objects of nature which are his analogue, with all the seeming changes "there is no new thing" (Ecc 1:9).

Clarke: Ecc 1:7 - All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full - The reason is, nothing goes into it either by the; rivers or by rain, that does not come from it: and to the place whence the rivers come, whether from the sea originally by evaporation, or immediately by rain, thither they return again; for the water exhaled from the sea by evaporation is collected in the clouds, and in rain, etc., falls upon the tops of the mountains; and, filtered through their fissures, produce streams, several of which uniting, make rivers, which flow into the sea. The water is again evaporated by the sun; the vapors collected are precipitated; and, being filtered through the earth, become streams, etc., as before.

Defender: Ecc 1:7 - thither they return

Similarly, this is an excellent summary of the earth's amazing hydrologic cycle, as confirmed scientifically only in modern times."

TSK: Ecc 1:7 - the rivers run // return again

the rivers run : Job 38:10, Job 38:11; Psa 104:6-9

return again : Heb. return to go

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Ecc 1:7 - Is not full // Unto the place from whence the rivers come

Is not full to wit, to the brink, or so as to overflow the earth, which might be expected from such vast accessions to it; whereby also he intimates the emptiness and dissatisfaction of men’ s minds, not withstanding all the abundance of creature-comforts.

Unto the place from whence the rivers come either,

1. Unto the sea, from whence they are supposed to return into their proper channels, and then, as it is expressed, thither (i.e. into the sea) they return again. Or,

2. Unto their springs or fountains, to which the waters return by secret passages of the earth, as is manifest from the Caspian Sea, and reasonably supposed in other places. Or rather,

3. Unto the earth in general, from whence they come or How into the sea, and to which they return again by the reflux of the sea. For he seems to speak of the visible and constant motion of the waters, both to the sea and from it, and then to it again in a perpetual reciprocation; which agrees best with the former similitudes, Ecc 1:5,6 .

Haydock: Ecc 1:7 - Again

Again. The sea furnishes vapours, &c. Homer (Iliad Greek: Ph. ) expresses himself in the same manner.

Gill: Ecc 1:7 - All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full // unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full,.... Which flow from fountains or an formed by hasty rains; these make their way to the sea, yet the sea is not filled therewith, and made to abound and overflow the earth, as it might be expected it would. So Seneca says ^z we wonder that the accession of rivers is not perceived in the sea; and Lucretius ^a observes the same, that it is wondered at that the sea should not increase, when there is such a flow of waters to it from all quarters; besides the wandering showers and flying storms that fall into it, and yet scarce increased a drop; which he accounts for by the exhalations of the sun, by sweeping and drying winds, and by what the clouds take up. Homer ^b makes every sea, all the rivers, fountains, and wells, flow, from the main ocean. Hence Pindar ^c calls the lake or fountain Camarina the daughter of the ocean But Virgil ^d makes the rivers to flow into it, as the wise man here; with which Aristotle ^e agrees. So Lactantius ^f says, "mare quod ex fluminibus constat", the sea consists of rivers. Both may be true, for, through secret passages under ground, the waters of it are caused to pass back again to their respective places from whence they flowed, as follows;

unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again; this also illustrates the succession of men, age after age, and the revolution of things in the world, their unquiet and unsettled state; and the unsatisfying nature of all things; as the sea is never full with what comes into it, so the mind of man is never satisfied with all the riches and honour he gains, or the knowledge of natural things he acquires; and it suggests that even water, as fluctuating a body as it is, yet has the advantage of men; that though it is always flowing and reflowing, yet it returns to its original place, which man does not. And from all these instances it appears that all things are vanity, and man has no profit of all his labour under the sun.