Ecclesiastes 1:10
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
Cross-references
In Ecclesiastes 3:15, the same truth is restated: what is now has already been, and God requires the past — a direct parallel within the same book.
In Matthew 23:30-32, Jesus shows the Pharisees repeating their fathers' sins — the same old pattern of rejecting prophets, illustrating that nothing is truly new.
In Luke 17:26-30, Jesus compares the days of Noah and Lot to his coming — history repeats itself with people absorbed in daily life until sudden judgment.
In Acts 7:51, Stephen accuses the council of always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as their fathers did — a direct echo of the pattern that nothing is new.
In 2 Timothy 3:8, Paul compares false teachers to Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses — showing that resistance to truth repeats across generations.