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New Living Translation

New King James Version

  • These are the words of the Teacher,a King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.
  • The Vanity of Life

    The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

  • Everything Is Meaningless

    “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
  • “Vanity[a] of vanities,” says the Preacher;
    “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
  • What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?
  • What profit has a man from all his labor
    In which he [b]toils under the sun?
  • Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.
  • One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
    But the earth abides forever.
  • The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.
  • The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
    And [c]hastens to the place where it arose.
  • The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.
  • The wind goes toward the south,
    And turns around to the north;
    The wind whirls about continually,
    And comes again on its circuit.
  • Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.
  • 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.
  • Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.
  • All things are [d]full of labor;
    Man cannot express it.
    The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    Nor the ear filled with hearing.
  • History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
  • 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.
  • Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.
  • Is there anything of which it may be said,
    “See, this is new”?
    It has already been in ancient times before us.
  • We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
  • 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 Teacher Speaks: The Futility of Wisdom

    I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.
  • The Grief of Wisdom

    I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
  • I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.
  • 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 [e]exercised.
  • I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless — like chasing the wind.
  • I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
  • What is wrong cannot be made right.
    What is missing cannot be recovered.
  • What is crooked cannot be made straight,
    And what is lacking cannot be numbered.
  • I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”
  • 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 [f]understood great wisdom and knowledge.”
  • So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.
  • And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
  • The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.
    To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
  • For in much wisdom is much grief,
    And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

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