| New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
| 1These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. Everything Is Meaningless | 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 2“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” | 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 3What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? | 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 4Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. | 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 5The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. | 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 6The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. | 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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. | 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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. | 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 9History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. | 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 10Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. | 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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 | 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 12I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. | 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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. | 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 14I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. | 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 15What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. | 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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.” | 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 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. | 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| 18The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. | 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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