Ecclesiastes 1:1-10 ▼

1 Words of a preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 Vanity of vanities, said the Preacher, vanity of vanities: the whole [is] vanity.

3 What advantage [is] to man by all his labor that he labors at under the sun?

4 A generation is going, and a generation is coming, and the earth is standing for all time.

5 Also, the sun has risen, and the sun has gone in, and to its place panting it is rising there.

6 Going to the south, and turning around to the north, turning around, turning around, the wind is going, and by its circuits the wind has returned.

7 All the streams are going to the sea, and the sea is not full; to a place to where the streams are going, there they are turning back to go.

8 All these things are wearying; a man is not able to speak, the eye is not satisfied by seeing, nor is the ear filled from hearing.

9 What [is] that which has been? It [is] that which is, and what [is] that which has been done? It [is] that which is done, and there is not an entirely new thing under the sun.

10 There is a thing of which [one] says: “See this, it [is] new!” Already it has been in the ages that were before us!