I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
Ver. 14. I have seen all the works that are done.] I have seen them, and set down mine observations of them. 1Ki 4:33 Pliny did somewhat like unto this in his Natural History; which work of his, saith Erasmus, Non minus varium est quam ipsa rerum natura: imo non opus, sed thesaurus, sed vere mundus rerum cognitu dignissimarum, it hath as much variety in it as nature herself hath. To speak truth, it is not a work but a treasury; nay, a world of things most worthy to be known of all men.
And behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit.] Nothing in themselves, and yet of sufficient activity to inflict vengeance and vexation upon the spirit of a man; so far are they from making him truly happy. They do but "feed the soul with wind," as the text may be rendered. Wind gotten into the veins is a sore "vexation."