Ecclesiastes 1

1The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2“Utter futility,” says the Teacher, “utter futility! Everything is futile!”

3What do people gain from all their toil, the toil they labor at under the sun?

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

5The sun rises and the sun sets, and it hurries back to its place, where it rises again.

6Going to the south and circling to the north, around and around goes the wind; on its circuits the wind returns.

7All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.

8All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say; the eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing.

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

10Is there anything of which someone can say, “Look, this is new”? It already existed in the ages before us.

11There is no remembrance of those who came before, and of those who are yet to come there will be no remembrance among those who come after them.

12I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13I set my heart to seek and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is a miserable business that God has given human beings to keep them occupied.

14I have seen all the deeds that are done under the sun, and look, everything is futile, a chasing of the wind.

15What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be counted.

16I said to myself, “Look, I have grown great and gained more wisdom than all who were over Jerusalem before me; my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.”

17So I set my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly; I came to know that this too is a chasing of the wind.

18For with much wisdom comes much grief, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.