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.

The Vanity of Wisdom

12 I othe Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I papplied my heart6 to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy qbusiness that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is rvanity7 and a striving after wind.8

15  sWhat is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said in my heart, “I have acquired great twisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I uapplied my heart to know wisdom and to know vmadness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ra striving after wind.

18  For win much wisdom is much vexation,

and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.