Words of the Preacher Regarding Vanity
1 The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: [1] [AA]
2 Vanity of vanities, [2] says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! [AB]
3 What profit have we from all the toil which we toil at under the sun? [3] [AC]
4 One generation departs and another generation comes, but the world forever stays.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets; then it presses on to the place where it rises.
6 Shifting south, then north, back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course.
7 All rivers flow to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they flow, the rivers continue to flow.
8 All things are wearisome, [4] too wearisome for words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing nor has the ear enough of hearing. [AD]
9 What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun! [AE]
10 Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. [AF]
11 There is no remembrance of past generations; [AG] nor will future generations be remembered by those who come after them. [5]
Vanity of Striving After Wisdom
12 I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem,
13 and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. [AH]A bad business God has given to human beings to be busied with.
14 I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind. [6] [AI]
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and you cannot count what is not there. [7]
16 [AJ] Though I said to myself, "See, I have greatly increased my wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge,"
17 yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. [AK]
18 For in much wisdom there is much sorrow; whoever increases knowledge increases grief. [8]