Ecclesiastes 1
1 These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
Here are the words of the Teacher, the king of Jerusalem, David's son.
2 “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
“Everything passes—it's so temporary! It's all so hard to understand!” says the Teacher.
3 What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
What benefit do you get for slaving away in this life?
4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
People come, and people go, but the earth lasts forever!
5 The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
The sun comes up, and the sun goes down, and then rushes to its place to rise again.
6 The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
The wind blows south, and then turns to the north. Round and round it spins, finally coming full circle.
7 All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.
Streams all flow into the sea, but the sea never becomes full. The streams return to the place from where they came.
8 All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.
Everything just keeps on going. You can't say all there is to say. You can't see all there is to see. You can't hear all there is to hear.
9 What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here.
10 Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
There's nothing anyone can point to and say, “Look! Here's something new.” In fact it's been around for ages, long before our time.
11 There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
The problem is we don't remember people from the past, and people in the future won't remember those who came before them.
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem.
13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!
I decided to focus my mind to explore, using wisdom, everything that happens here on earth. This is a tough assignment that God has given people to keep them busy!
14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
I examined everything people do here on earth, and discovered that it's all so temporary—trying to understand it is like trying to pin down the wind!
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there.
16 I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”
I thought to myself, “I've become very wise, wiser than all the kings of Jerusalem before me. My mind has gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.”
17 So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
For with great wisdom comes great frustration. The greater the knowledge, the greater the pain.
