Ecclesiastes 1
1
1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 3What profit hath man of all his labour wherein he laboureth under the sun?
4One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; and the earth abideth for ever. 5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he ariseth. 6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits. 7All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again. 8All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10Is there a thing whereof men say, See, this is new? it hath been already, in the ages which were before us. 11There is no remembrance of the former generations; neither shall there be any remembrance of the latter generations that are to come, among those that shall come after.
12I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. 14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. 15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. 16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. 17And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also was a striving after wind. 18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.
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Ecclesiastes 1: RV1885
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Ecclesiastes 1
1
The search for meaning in life
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 our hard work
here on this earth?
4People 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 any more,
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.
16I said to myself, “You are by far the wisest person who has ever lived in Jerusalem. You are eager to learn, and you have learnt a lot.”#1 K 4.29-31. 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: Or “eating the wind”.
18The more you know,
the more it hurts;
the more you understand,
the more you suffer.
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