Ecclesiastes 1
1
Nothing Makes Sense
1When the son of David was king in Jerusalem, he was known to be very wise,#1.1 known to be very wise: This stands for the Hebrew word often translated “preacher” or “teacher.” The word may refer to someone who was a very wise leader or to someone who had become wise from collecting sayings about wisdom. and he said:
2Nothing makes sense!
Everything is nonsense.
I have seen it all—
nothing makes sense!
3What is there to show
for all of our hard work
here on this earth?
4 #
Si 14.18. People come, and people go,
but still the world
never changes.
5The sun comes up,
the sun goes down;
it hurries right back
to where it started from.
6The wind blows south,
the wind blows north;
round and round it blows
over and over again.
7All rivers empty into the sea,
but it never spills over;
one by one the rivers return
to their source.#1.7 return to their source: Or “flow into the sea.”
8All 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.
9Everything that happens
has happened before;
nothing is new,
nothing under the sun.
10Someone might say,
“Here is something new!”
But it happened before,
long before we were born.
11No 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
12I said these things when I lived in Jerusalem as king of Israel. 13With all my wisdom I tried to understand everything that happens here on earth. And God has made this so hard for us humans to do. 14I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.#1.14 chasing the wind: Or “eating the wind.”
15If something is crooked,
it can't be made straight;
if something isn't there,
it can't be counted.
16 #
1 K 4.29-31; Si 47.14-18. 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.” 17Then 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.#1.17 chasing the wind: See the note at 1.14.
18The more you know,
the more you hurt;
the more you understand,
the more you suffer.
Currently Selected:
Ecclesiastes 1: CEVDCI
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Ecclesiastes 1
1
1 The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem.
2 Ecclesiastes said: Vanity of vanities! Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!
3 What more does a man have from all his labor, as he labors under the sun?
4 A generation passes away, and a generation arrives. But the earth stands forever.
5 The sun rises and sets; it returns to its place, and from there, being born again,
6 it circles through the south, and arcs toward the north. The spirit continues on, illuminating everything in its circuit, and turning again in its cycle.
7 All rivers enter into the sea, and the sea does not overflow. To the place from which the rivers go out, they return, so that they may flow again.
8 Such things are difficult; man is not able to explain them with words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing, nor is the ear fulfilled by hearing.
9 What is it that has existed? The same shall exist in the future. What is it that has been done? The same shall continue to be done.
10 There is nothing new under the sun. Neither is anyone able to say: "Behold, this is new!" For it has already been brought forth in the ages that were before us.
11 There is no remembrance of the former things. Indeed, neither shall there be any record of past things in the future, for those who will exist at the very end.
12 I, Ecclesiastes, was king of Israel at Jerusalem.
13 And I was determined in my mind to seek and to investigate wisely, concerning all that is done under the sun. God has given this very difficult task to the sons of men, so that they may be occupied by it.
14 I have seen all that is done under the sun, and behold: all is emptiness and an affliction of the spirit.
15 The perverse are unwilling to be corrected, and the number of the foolish is boundless.
16 I have spoken in my heart, saying: "Behold, I have achieved greatness, and I have surpassed all the wise who were before me in Jerusalem." And my mind has contemplated many things wisely, and I have learned.
17 And I have dedicated my heart, so that I may know prudence and doctrine, and also error and foolishness. Yet I recognize that, in these things also, there is hardship, and affliction of the spirit.
18 Because of this, with much wisdom there is also much anger. And whoever adds knowledge, also adds hardship.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in