9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
9 What was will be again, what happened will happen again. There's nothing new on this earth. Year after year it's the same old thing.
9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.
9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1:9
Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1:9-11
(Read Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)
Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same. This should take us from expecting happiness in the creature, and quicken us to seek eternal blessings. How many things and persons in Solomon's day were thought very great, yet there is no remembrance of them now!