Ecclesiastes 1
1 [I am Solomon], the son of [King] David. [I rule] in Jerusalem [and people call me] ‘The (Preacher/Religious Teacher)’.
The words of Koheleth, the son of David, the king in Jerusalem.
2 I say that everything is mysterious; everything is hard for me to understand; it is difficult to understand why everything happens.
Vanity of vanities, saith Koheleth, vanity of vanities: all is vanity.
3 (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]
What profit hath a man of all his toil which he toil-eth under the sun?
4 [Each year] old people die and babies are born, but the earth never changes.
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth endureth for ever.
5 [Each morning] the sun rises, and [each evening] it sets, and [then] it hurries around to where it started from.
The sun also riseth, and the sun goeth down, and striving to reach his place he riseth again there.
6 The wind blows south, and then it [turns around to start blowing towards] the north. It goes around and around in circles.
Going toward the south, and turning round toward the north, the wind moveth round about continually; and around its circles doth the wind return again.
7 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.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is never full: unto the place whither the rivers go, thither will they continue to go.
8 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.
All things weary themselves [constantly]; man can not utter them: the eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 [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].
That which hath been, is the same which will be; and that which hath been done, is the same which will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Sometimes people say, “Look at this! This is something new [RHQ]!” But it has existed previously; it existed before we were born.
If there be any thing whereof it is said, See, this is new: It hath already been in olden times which were before us.
11 [People] do not remember the things [that happened] long ago, and in the future, people will not remember what we are doing now.
[Only] there is no recollection of former [generations]; and also of the later ones, that are to be—of these [likewise] there will be no recollection with those that will be still later.
12 I, the Religious Teacher, have been the king of Israel [for many years, ruling] in Jerusalem.
I Koheleth was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 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.
And I directed my heart to inquire and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: this is an evil employment which God hath given to the sons of man to busy themselves therewith.
14 It seems that nothing that happens on the earth really enables us to do anything useful. It is [like] [MET] chasing the wind.
I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun: and, behold, all is vanity and a torture of the spirit.
15 [Many] things that are crooked cannot be caused to become straight; we cannot count things that do not exist.
What is crooked cannot be made straight; and that which is defective cannot be numbered.
16 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!”
I spoke with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have truly obtained greater and more wisdom than all those who have been before me over Jerusalem: yea, my heart had seen much wisdom and knowledge.
17 [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.
And I directed my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly; [but] I have perceived that this also is a torture of the spirit.
18 The wiser I became, the more disappointed I became. The more things I knew about, the sadder I became.
For where there is much wisdom there is much vexation: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth pain.
