Charles Ellicott Commentary Ecclesiastes 1:14

"I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." — Ecclesiastes 1:14 (ASV)

Vexation. —The word occurs only in this book (Ecclesiastes 2:11; Ecclesiastes 2:17; Ecclesiastes 2:26; Ecclesiastes 4:4; Ecclesiastes 4:6; Ecclesiastes 6:9). The Authorized Version translation, “vexation of spirit,” is difficult to justify.

A very similar phrase occurs in Hosea 12:1, where it is translated “feeding on wind,” because in Hebrew, as in some other languages, the word for “spirit” primarily denotes breath or wind. Accordingly, many interpreters understand this phrase as “feeding on wind” .

However, the same root that means “to feast on a thing” also has the secondary meaning “to delight in a thing,” and so the corresponding noun in Chaldee comes to mean “pleasure” or “will” (Ezra 7:18). Accordingly, the Septuagint and many modern interpreters understand this phrase as “effort after wind.”