Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity.

The Hebrew word is hebel — vapor, breath, mist (the same name as Abel whose life passed away in an instant). Something that exists for a moment and then dissipates without leaving a trace.

The Preacher opens with this word and returns to it like a refrain across twelve chapters of the honest, searching, and theologically uncomfortable writing in the Old Testament.

The wise man dies just like the fool. The righteous person suffers what the wicked deserve. Work is toilsome and its fruits uncertain. Even wisdom increases sorrow. This is the voice of someone who has looked at life without flinching and reported what he saw. This is skeptical realism, instead of the idealism of Proverbs.