2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

3 What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains for ever.

5 The sun rises and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south,

and goes round to the north;

round and round goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

7 All streams 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;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

9 What 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 already,

in the ages before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former things,

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things yet to happen

among those who come after.