1 The words of the Teacher,1 1:1 Or leader of the assembly ; also in verses 2 and 12 son of David, king in Jerusalem: |
2 "Meaningless! Meaningless!"
says the Teacher.
"Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless." |
3 What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun? |
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever. |
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises. |
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course. |
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again. |
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
nor the ear its fill of hearing. |
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun. |
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
"Look! This is something new"?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time. |
11 There is no remembrance of men of old,
and even those who are yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow. |
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. |
13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! |
14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
15 What is twisted cannot be straightened;
what is lacking cannot be counted. |
16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." |
17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. |
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief. |
