“All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.”
The image of rivers flowing endlessly to the sea (which never fills) presents a paradox of ceaseless motion without accumulation or satisfaction, with rivers presumably evaporating and reforming in an eternal cycle. This verse crystallizes the motif of toil without rest, consumption without fullness, motion without destination—exactly the condition Qohelet attributes to human striving beneath the sun. The metaphor invites reflection on whether any human project can escape this futile circulation inherent to existence itself.
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