Ecclesiastes 1

The Vanity of Life

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.3 What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun?4  One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever.5 The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.6 The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.7 All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.8 All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.10 Is there anything of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been in ancient times before us.11  There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.

The Grief of Wisdom

12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.15  What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered.16 I communed with my heart, saying, Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.18 For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

ECCLESIASTES 1

Nothing Makes Sense

1 When the son of David was king in Jerusalem, he was known to be very wise, t and he said:

2 Nothing makes sense!
Everything is nonsense.
I have seen it all—
nothing makes sense!

3 What is there to show
for all of our hard work
here on this earth?

4  t People come, and people go,
but still the world
never changes.

5 The sun comes up,
the sun goes down;
it hurries right back
to where it started from.

6 The wind blows south,
the wind blows north;
round and round it blows
over and over again.

7 All rivers empty into the sea,
but it never spills over;
one by one the rivers return
to their source.t

8 All of life is far more boring
than words could ever say.
Our eyes and our ears
are never satisfied
with what we see and hear.

9 Everything that happens
has happened before;
nothing is new,
nothing under the sun.

10 Someone might say,
“Here is something new!”
But it happened before,
long before we were born.

11 No one who lived in the past
is remembered anymore,
and everyone yet to be born
will be forgotten too.

It Is Senseless //To Be Wise

14 I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.t

15 If something is crooked,
it can't be made straight;
if something isn't there,
it can't be counted.
16  t I said to myself, “You are by far the wisest person who has ever lived in Jerusalem. You are eager to learn, and you have learned a lot.”

17 Then I decided to find out all I could about wisdom and foolishness. Soon I realized that this too was as senseless as chasing the wind.t

18 The more you know,
the more you hurt;
the more you understand,
the more you suffer.