Ecclesiastes 1
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
These are the words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2 All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.
“Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”
3 What is a man profited by all his work which he does under the sun?
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
4 One generation goes and another comes; but the earth is for ever.
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun comes up and the sun goes down, and goes quickly back to the place where he came up.
The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it rises.
6 The wind goes to the south, turning back again to the north; circling round for ever.
The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
7 All the rivers go down to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers go, there they go again.
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.
8 All things are full of weariness; man may not give their story: the eye has never enough of its seeing, or the ear of its hearing.
All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.
9 That which has been, is that which is to be, and that which has been done, is that which will be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.
What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which men say, See, this is new? It has been in the old time which was before us.
Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
11 There is no memory of those who have gone before, and of those who come after there will be no memory for those who are still to come after them.
There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to searching out in wisdom all things which are done under heaven: it is a hard thing which God has put on the sons of men to do.
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!
14 I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; all is to no purpose, and desire for wind.
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.
15 That which is bent may not be made straight, and that which is not there may not be numbered.
What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to my heart, See, I have become great and am increased in wisdom more than any who were before me in Jerusalem — yes, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.
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.”
17 And I gave my heart to getting knowledge of wisdom, and of the ways of the foolish. And I saw that this again was desire for wind.
So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
18 Because in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow.
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.
