The word “meaningless” NIV OR “vanity”KJV in Ecclesiastes comes from the Hebrew word for a soap bubble. Beautiful but fragile. This joker in the Old Testament pack is the sphinx of Hebrew literature. His verdict on life is that it is a struggle filled with disillusionment and disappointment. And this is the conclusion of a man who had everything! Chapter 2 is peppered with the word “I ” e.g.” I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:1 NLT He goes on to list a multitude of good things in life but concludes: ” So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind… I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned… So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world… Their days of labour are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:17