Ecclesiastes 1–2

Chapter 1

The Futility of All Endeavor

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

²“^1aVanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,

“Vanity of vanities! All is ²vanity.”

^3aWhat advantage does man have in all his work

Which he does under the sun?

⁴A generation goes and a generation comes,

But the ^aearth ¹remains forever.

⁵Also, ^athe sun rises and the sun sets;

And ¹hastening to its place it rises there again.

^61aBlowing toward the south,

Then turning toward the north,

The wind continues ²swirling along;

And on its circular courses the wind returns.

⁷All the rivers ¹flow into the sea,

Yet the sea is not full.

To the place where the rivers flow,

There they flow again.

⁸All things are wearisome;

Man is not able to tell it.

^aThe eye is not satisfied with seeing,

Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

^9aThat which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there anything of which one might say,

“See this, it is new”?

Already it has existed for ages

Which were before us.

¹¹There is ^ano remembrance of ¹earlier things;

And also of the ²later things which will occur,

There will be for them no remembrance

Among those who will come later still.

The Futility of Wisdom

¹²I, the ^aPreacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³And I ^aset my ¹mind to seek and ^bexplore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is ²a grievous ^ctask which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

¹⁴I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is ^1avanity and striving after wind.

¹⁵What is ^acrooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I ¹said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased ^awisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my ²mind has observed ³a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷And I ^aset my ¹mind to know wisdom and to ^bknow madness and folly; I realized that this also is ^cstriving after wind.

¹⁸Because ^ain much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

Chapter 2

The Futility of Pleasure and Possessions

¹I said ¹to myself, “Come now, I will test you with ^apleasure. So ²enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility.

^2aI said of laughter, “It is madness,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

³I explored with my ¹mind how to ^astimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of ^bfolly, until I could see ^cwhat good there is for the sons of men ²to do under heaven the few ³years of their lives.

⁴I enlarged my works: I ^abuilt houses for myself, I planted ^bvineyards for myself;

⁵I made ^agardens and ^bparks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees;

⁶I made ^aponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees.

⁷I bought male and female slaves and I had ^1ahomeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and ^bherds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem.

⁸Also, I collected for myself silver and ^agold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself ^bmale and female singers and the pleasures of men—many concubines.

⁹Then I became ^agreat and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.

^10aAll that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my ^breward for all my labor.

¹¹Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had ¹exerted, and behold all was ^2avanity and striving after wind and there was ^bno profit under the sun.

Wisdom Excels Folly

¹²So I turned to ^aconsider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except ^bwhat has already been done?

¹³And I saw that ^awisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the ^afool walks in darkness. And yet I know that ^bone fate befalls them both.

¹⁵Then I said ¹to myself, “^aAs is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. ^bWhy then have I been extremely wise?” So ²I said to myself, “This too is vanity.”

¹⁶For there is ^ano ¹lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And ^bhow the wise man and the fool alike die!

¹⁷So I ^ahated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was ¹grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

The Futility of Labor

¹⁸Thus I hated ^aall the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must ^bleave it to the man who will come after me.

¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or ^aa fool? Yet he will have ¹control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is ^bvanity.

²⁰Therefore I ¹completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun.

²¹When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and ^askill, then he ^bgives his ¹legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what does a man get in ^aall his labor and in ¹his striving with which he labors under the sun?

²³Because all his days his task is painful and ^agrievous; even at night his ¹mind ^bdoes not rest. This too is vanity.

²⁴There is ^anothing better for a man than to eat and drink and ¹tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is ^bfrom the hand of God.

²⁵For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without ¹Him?

²⁶For to a person who is good in His sight ^aHe has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may ^bgive to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is ^cvanity and striving after wind.