Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 1:6
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
6. The wind goeth toward the south ] This comes after the sun as exhibiting a like, though more irregular, law of mutability. “South and north” only are named, partly, perhaps, because east and west were implied in the sunrise and sunset of the previous verse, more probably because these were the prevailing currents of air in Palestine. Comp. “Awake, O north wind; blow, O south,” in Son 4:16; Sir 43:20 ; Luk 12:55.
It whirleth about continually ] The whole verse gains in poetic emphasis by a more literal rendering, It goeth to the south, and it circleth to the north, circling, circling goeth the wind, and on its circlings returneth the wind. The iteration and order of the words seem to breathe the languor of one who was weary with watching the endless and yet monotonous changes. (Comp. the illustration in Introduction, chap. iii.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
More literally, Going toward the south and veering toward the north, veering, veering goes the wind; and to its veerings the wind returns.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. “The wind is continually whirling about, and the wind returneth upon its whirlings.”
It is plain, from the clause which I have restored to the fifth verse, that the author refers to the approximations of the sun to the northern and southern tropics, viz., of Cancer and Capricorn. See Clarke on Ec 1:5.
All the versions agree in applying the first clause of the sixth verse to the sun, and not to the wind. Our version alone has mistaken the meaning. My old MS. Bible is quite correct:
The sunne riisith up, and goth doun, and to his place turnith agein; and there agein riising, goth about bi the south, and then agein to the north.
The author points out two things here:
1. Day and night, marked by the appearance of the sun above the horizon; proceeding apparently from east to west; where he sinks under the horizon, and appears to be lost during the night.
2. His annual course through the twelve signs of the zodiac, when, from the equinoctial, he proceeds southward to the tropic of Capricorn; and thence turneth about towards the north, till he reaches the tropic of Cancer; and so on.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; the wind also sometimes blows from one quarter of the world, and sometimes from another; all of them being synecdochically comprehended under these two eminent quarters. But because this word, the wind, is not expressed in the Hebrew, but is only borrowed or understood from the latter clause of the verse, this first clause is by other judicious interpreters understood of the sun, of whom he last spake; the words being thus rendered according to the Hebrew, He (the sun) goeth towards the south, (which he doth one half of the year,) and turneth about unto the north, which he doth the other half. And so here is the whole motion of the sun towards the four quarters of the world particularly described; his daily motion from east to, vest, and back again, Ecc 1:5; and his yearly motion from north to south, between the signs of Cancer and Capricorn.
The wind returneth again according to his circuits: this clause is by all understood of the wind, which is fitly mentioned immediately after the sun, because it hath its rise from the sun, who is therefore called the father of winds, and the winds do usually rise with the sun, and are laid when he sets. But then it is rendered thus, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew, the wind goeth continually whirling or compassing about, and he returneth again to his circuits, being sometimes in one, and sometimes in another quarter, and successively returning to the same quarters in which he had formerly been.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. according to his circuitsthatis, it returns afresh to its former circuits, however many be itsprevious veerings about. The north and south winds are the twoprevailing winds in Palestine and Egypt.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north,…. The word “wind” is not in this clause in the original text, but is taken from the next, and so may be rendered, “it goeth towards the south”, c. that is, the sun x before mentioned, which as to its diurnal and nocturnal course in the daytime goes towards the south, and in the night towards the north and as to its annual course before the winter solstice it goes to the south, and before the summer solstice to the north, as interpreters observe. And the Targum not only interprets this clause, but even the whole verse, of the sun, paraphrasing the whole thus,
“it goes all the side of the south in the daytime, and goes round to the side of the north in the night, by the way of the abyss; it goes its circuit, and comes to the wind of the south corner in the revolution of Nisan and Tammuz; and by its circuit it returns to the wind of the north corner in the revolution of Tisri and Tebet; it goes out of the confines of the east in the morning, and goes into the confines of the west in the evening.”
But Aben Ezra understands the whole of the wind, as our version and others do, which is sometimes in the south point of the heavens, and is presently in the north;
it whirleth about continually; and the wind returneth again according to his circuits; which may be meant of the circuits of the sun, which has a great influence on the wind, often raising it in a morning and laying it at night; but it is the wind itself which whirls and shifts about all the points of the compass, and returns from whence it came, where the treasures of it are. Agreeably to Solomon’s account of the wind is Plato’s definition of it,
“the wind is the motion of the air round about the earth y.”
This also exemplifies the rotation of men and things, the instability, inconstancy, and restless state of all sublunary enjoyments; the unprofitableness of men’s labours, who, while they labour for riches and honour, and natural knowledge, labour for the wind, and fill their belly with east wind, which cannot satisfy, Ec 5:16; as well as the frailty of human life, which is like the wind that passes away and comes not again; and in this respect, like the rest of the instances, exceed man, which returns to its place, but man does not, Job 7:7.
x Jarchi, Alshech, and Titatzak, interpret it of the sun; so Mercerus, Varenius, Gejerus; accordingly Mr. Broughton renders it “he walketh to the south.” y Definition. p. 1337. Ed. Ficin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“It goeth to the south, and turneth to the north; the wind goeth ever circling, and the wind returneth again on its circuits.” Thus designedly the verse is long-drawn and monotonous. It gives the impression of weariness. may be 3rd pret. with the force of an abstract present, but the relation is here different from that in 5 a, where the rising, setting, and returning stand together, and the two former lie backwards indeed against the latter; here, on the contrary, the circling motion and the return to a new beginning stand together on the same line; is thus a part., as the Syr. translates it. The participles represent continuance in motion. In Ecc 1:4 the subjects stand foremost, because the ever anew beginning motion belongs to the subject; in Ecc 1:5 and Ecc 1:6, on the contrary, the pred. stands foremost, and the subject in Ecc 1:6 is therefore placed thus far back, because the first two pred. were not sufficient, but required a third for their completion. That the wind goes from the south ( , R. , the region of the most intense light) to the north ( , R. , the region of darkness), is not so exclusively true of it as it is of the sun that it goes from the east to the west; this expression requires the generalization “circling, circling goes the wind,” i.e., turning in all directions here and there; for the repetition denotes that the circling movement exhausts all possibilities. The near defining part. which is subordinated to “goeth,” elsewhere is annexed by “and,” e.g., Jon 1:11; cf. 2Sa 15:30; here , in the sense of , Eze 37:2 (both times with Pasek between the words), precedes. is here the n. actionis of . And “on its circuits” is not to be taken adverbially: it turns back on its circuits, i.e., it turns back on the same paths (Knobel and others), but and are connected, as Pro 26:11; cf. Psa 19:7: the wind returns back to its circling movements to begin them anew (Hitzig). “The wind” is repeated (cf. Ecc 2:10; Ecc 4:1) according to the figure Epanaphora or Palindrome ( vid., the Introd. to Isaiah, c. 40-66). To all regions of the heavens, to all directions of the compass, its movement is ceaseless, ever repeating itself anew; there is nothing permanent but the fluctuation, and nothing new but that the old always repeats itself. The examples are thoughtfully chosen and arranged. From the currents of air, the author now passes to streams of water.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(6) The order of the Hebrew words permits the first clause, going towards the south and returning towards the north, to be understood in continuation of the description of the movements of the sun, and so some interpreters have taken them, but probably erroneously. The verse gains in liveliness if more literally rendered, going towards the south and circling towards the north, circling, circling goes the wind, and to its circles the wind returns.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. The wind goeth It is as if the tireless winds were in sympathy with changeful man, and were a fitting companion for him. “O, remember that, my life is wind,” groaned Job, as he thought of its rapid changes and its early vanishing.
Returneth to his circuits The permanency of the courses of certain winds perhaps of the Etesian winds of the Eastern Mediterranean seems familiar to the writer, though its cause had not been investigated.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ecc 1:6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
Ver. 6. The wind goeth toward the south, &c. ] It is a little very small thing at first, a vapour rising out of the earth; but, by circuiting and whirling about, it gathers strength – now rushing toward the south, and anon toward the north, &c.; the original is very lively in expressing the manner of it. Una Eurusque Notusque ruunt, &c. a The restlessness of these insensible creatures, and diligence in doing their duties, as it taxeth our dulness and disaffection, so it reminds us of the instability of our states, and that we should seek and set up our rest in God alone. All earthly things are to the soul but as the air to the stone, – can give it no stay till it come to God the centre.
a Virg., Aeneid.
wind. Hebrew. ruach. App-9. The first part of Ecc 1:6 continues the motion of the sun, going to the south (in winter) and turning about to the north (in summer).
it whirleth: i.e. the wind whirleth. This is the subject of Ecc 1:6.
The wind: This verse should be connected with the preceding, and rendered, “The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose; going toward the south, and turning about unto the north. The wind whirleth about continually,” etc. Alluding, in the former part, to the apparent daily motion of the sun from east to west, and to his annual course through the signs of the zodiac. Job 37:9, Job 37:17, Psa 107:25, Psa 107:29, Jon 1:4, Mat 7:24, Mat 7:27, Joh 3:8, Act 27:13-15
Reciprocal: Ecc 6:11 – General Son 4:16 – Awake
1:6 The {e} wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about to the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to its circuits.
(e) By the sun, wind and rivers, he shows that the greatest labour and longest has an end, and therefore there can be no happiness in this world.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes