Ecclesiastes 1
New International Version - Ecclesiastes 1 << | >> 123456789101112 1:1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 1:2 'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' 1:3 What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? 1:4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. 1:5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. 1:6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. 1:7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. 1:8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 1:10 Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is something new'? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. 1:11 There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. 1:12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 1:13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 1:14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 1:15 What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. 1:16 I thought to myself, 'Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.' 1:17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 1:18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.