Ecclesiastes 1
1 The wordes of the Preacher, the sonne of Dauid King in Ierusalem.
[I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
2 Vanitie of vanities, sayth the Preacher: vanitie of vanities, all is vanitie.
I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
3 What remaineth vnto man in all his trauaile, which he suffereth vnder ye sunne?
(What do people gain from all the work that they do here on the earth?/It seems that people gain no lasting benefit from all the work that they do here on the earth.) [RHQ]
4 One generation passeth, and another generation succeedeth: but the earth remaineth for euer.
[Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
5 The sunne riseth, and ye sunne goeth downe, and draweth to his place, where he riseth.
[Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
6 The winde goeth toward the South, and compasseth towarde the North: the winde goeth rounde about, and returneth by his circuites.
The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
7 All the riuers goe into the sea, yet the sea is not full: for the riuers goe vnto ye place, whence they returne, and goe.
All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is never full. The water returns [to the sky], and [when it rains], the water returns to the rivers, and it flows again to the sea.
8 All things are full of labour: man cannot vtter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the eare filled with hearing.
Everything is boring, [with the result that] we do not even want to talk about it. We [SYN] see things, but we always want to see more. We [SYN] hear things, but we always want to hear more.
9 What is it that hath bene? that that shalbe: and what is it that hath bene done? that which shalbe done: and there is no newe thing vnder the sunne.
[Everything continues to be the same as it has always been]; things that happen have happened previously, and they will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing [really] new in this world [MTY].
10 Is there any thing, whereof one may say, Beholde this, it is newe? it hath bene already in the olde time that was before vs.
Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
11 There is no memorie of the former, neither shall there be a remembrance of the latter that shalbe, with them that shall come after.
[People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
12 I the Preacher haue bene King ouer Israel in Ierusalem:
I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
13 And I haue giuen mine heart to search and finde out wisdome by all things that are done vnder the heauen: (this sore trauaile hath GOD giuen to the sonnes of men, to humble them thereby)
By being wise, I concentrated on understanding everything that was being done on the earth [MTY]. [But I found out that] God causes [all of] us to experience things that cause us to be unhappy/miserable.
14 I haue considered all the workes that are done vnder the sunne, and beholde, all is vanitie, and vexation of the spirit.
It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
15 That which is crooked, can none make straight: and that which faileth, cannot be nombred.
[Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
16 I thought in mine heart, and said, Behold, I am become great, and excell in wisdome all them that haue bene before me in Ierusalem: and mine heart hath seene much wisedome and knowledge.
I said to myself, “[Hey], I am wiser than any of the kings that ruled in Jerusalem before I [became the king]. I am wiser and I know more than any of them!”
17 And I gaue mine heart to knowe wisdome and knowledge, madnes and foolishnes: I knew also that this is a vexation of the spirit.
[So] I determined to learn [more] about being wise and to learn about knowing about many things, and [also] to learn about [doing things that are] very foolish [DOU]. [But] I found out that trying to understand those things was also [useless, like] chasing the wind.
18 For in the multitude of wisedome is much griefe: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorowe.
The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
