Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 1

¹ 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 does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?

⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.

⁵ The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.

⁶ The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.

⁷ All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.

⁸ All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹ What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us.

¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after.

¹² I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³ And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with.

¹⁴ I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶ I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge."

¹⁷ And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind.

¹⁸ For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.