All Is Vanity

1 The words of athe Preacher,1 the son of David, bking in Jerusalem.

2  cVanity2 of vanities, says athe Preacher,

cvanity of vanities! dAll is vanity.

3  eWhat fdoes man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

4  A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but gthe earth remains forever.

5  hThe sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens3 to the place where it rises.

6  iThe wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

7  All jstreams 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;

kthe eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

9  lWhat 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 malready

in the ages before us.

11  There is no nremembrance of former things,4

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things5 yet to be

among those who come after.