Ecclesiastes 1 ISV NLT Parallel

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◄ Ecclesiastes 1 ►

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

1These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. Everything Is Meaningless

2"Utterly pointless," says the Teacher. "Absolutely pointless; everything is pointless."

2“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

3What does a man gain from all of the work that he undertakes on earth?

3What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

4A generation goes, a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

4Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.

5The sun rises, the sun sets, then rushes back to where it arose.

5The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.

6The wind blows southward, then northward, constantly circulating, and the wind comes back again in its courses.

6The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.

7All the rivers flow toward the sea, but the sea is never full; then rivers return to the headwaters where they began.

7Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

8Everything is wearisome, more than man is able to express. The eye is never satisfied by seeing, nor the ear by hearing.

8Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

9Whatever has happened, will happen again; whatever has been done, will be done again. There is nothing new on earth.

9History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

10Does anything exist about which someone might say, "Look at this! Is this new?" It happened ages ago; it existed before we did.

10Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.

11No one remembers those in the past, nor will they be remembered by those who come after them.

11We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. The Teacher Speaks: The Futility of Wisdom

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

12I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.

13I dedicated myself to using wisdom for study and discovery of everything that is done under heaven. God uses terrible things so human beings will struggle with life.

13I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.

14I observed every activity done on earth. My conclusion: all of it is pointless—like chasing after the wind.

14I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

15What is crooked cannot be made straight; what is not there cannot be counted.

15What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered.

16I told myself, "I have become greater and wiser than anyone who ruled before me in Jerusalem—yes, I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge."

16I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”

17So I dedicated myself to learn about wisdom and knowledge, and about insanity and foolishness. And I discovered that this is also like chasing after the wind.

17So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.

18For with much wisdom there is much sorrow; the more someone adds to knowledge, the more someone adds to grief.

18The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.

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