The words of the Preacher,{HR}Son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,{HR}Vanity of vanities; the whole [is] vanity.
What profit hath man in all his toil{HR}Wherewith he toileth under the sun?
Generation cometh and generation goeth,{HR}And the earth forever abideth.
And riseth the sun and setteth the sun,{HR}And to its place hasteth where it riseth.
Going toward the south and turning round toward the north,{HR}Turning continually goeth the wind,{HR}And in its turnings returneth the wind.
All the rivers go to the sea, yet the sea is not full;{HR}Unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again.
All things [are] fatiguing; one cannot express [them]:{HR}The eye is not satisfied with seeing,{HR}Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
What hath been [is] what will be,{HR}And what hath been done, what will be done;{HR}And there is not all new under the sun.
Is there a thing whereof one saith, See, this is new?{HR}It belonged to the ages that were before us.
[There is] no remembrance of former things,{HR}Nor shall there be remembrance of things that are to come{HR}With those that shall be after them.
I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom{HR}Concerning all that is done under heaven:{HR}It is a sore travail that God hath given{HR}To the sons of men to be exercised therewith.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;{HR}And, behold, all [is] vanity and a striving after wind.
[That which is] crooked cannot be made straight:{HR}And that which is wanting cannot be numbered.
I communed with mine own heart, saying,{HR}Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom{HR}Above all that were before me in Jerusalem:{HR}Yea, my heart hath had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.
And I applied my heart to know wisdom,{HR}And to know madness and folly:{HR}I perceived that this also was a striving after wind.
For in much wisdom [is] much grief:{HR}And he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.