| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 1These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. Everything Is Meaningless | 1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. |
| 2“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” | 2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. |
| 3What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? | 3What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? |
| 4Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. | 4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. |
| 5The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. | 5The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. |
| 6The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. | 6The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. |
| 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. | 7All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. |
| 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. | 8All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. |
| 9History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. | 9The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. |
| 10Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. | 10Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. |
| 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 | 11There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. |
| 12I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. | 12I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. |
| 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. | 13And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. |
| 14I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. | 14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. |
| 15What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. | 15That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. |
| 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.” | 16I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem: yea, my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. |
| 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. | 17And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit. |
| 18The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. | 18For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. |
| 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. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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