Prologue

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

Motto Introduced

2 “Vanity of vanities!” says the Teacher,b

“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!”

All Toil is Profitless and Repetitious

3 What does a person gain in all his toil

with which he toils under the sun?

4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth stands forever.

5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down;

to its place it hurries,c and there it rises again.

6 The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north;

around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns.

7 All the streams flow to the sea,

but the sea is never full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they continue to flow.

8 All things toil continuously;d

no one can ever finish describing this.e

The eye is neverf satisfied with seeing,

and the ear is neverg filled with hearing.

9 What has been—it is what will be;

what has been done—it is what will be done;

there is nothing new under the sun.

10 There is a thing of which it is said, “Look at this! This is new!”

But it already existed in ages past before us.

11 There is neither remembrance of former generations,

nor will there be remembrance of future generations.

Qohelet Introduces His Quest

12 I, the Teacher,h was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.i It is a grievous task God has given to ⌊humans⌋j ⌊to be busy with⌋.k 14 I saw all the works that are done under the sun. Look! Everything is vanity and chasing wind.

15 What is twisted cannot be straightened,l

and what is lacking cannot be counted.m

16 ⌊I said to myself⌋,n “Look! I have become great and have increased in wisdom more than anyone who ⌊has preceded⌋o me over Jerusalem. ⌊I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge⌋.”p 17 So ⌊I dedicated myself⌋q to learn about wisdom and to learn about delusion and folly. However, I discoveredr that this also is chasing wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much frustration,s

and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.