Ecclesiastes 1 (New American Standard Bible)

Ecclesiastes 1

The Futility of All Endeavor

 ¹The words of the ^(A)Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
    ²"^[a](B)Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,
         "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
    ^3(C)What advantage does man have in all his work
         Which he does under the sun?
    ⁴A generation goes and a generation comes,
         But the ^(D)earth remains forever.
    ⁵Also, ^(E)the sun rises and the sun sets;
         And hastening to its place it rises there again.
    ^6(F)Blowing toward the south,
         Then turning toward the north,
         The wind continues swirling along;
         And on its circular courses the wind returns.
    ⁷All the rivers flow into the sea,
         Yet the sea is not full.
         To the place where the rivers flow,
         There they flow again.
    ⁸All things are wearisome;
         Man is not able to tell it.
         ^(G)The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
         Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
    ^9(H)That which has been is that which will be,
         And that which has been done is that which will be done.
         So there is nothing new under the sun.
    ¹⁰Is there anything of which one might say,
         "See this, it is new"?
         Already it has existed for ages
         Which were before us.
    ¹¹There is ^(I)no remembrance of earlier things;
         And also of the later things which will occur,
         There will be for them no remembrance
         Among those who will come later still.

The Futility of Wisdom

 ¹²I, the ^(J)Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

 ¹³And I ^(K)set my mind to seek and ^(L)explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven It is a grievous ^(M)task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

 ¹⁴I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is ^(N)vanity and striving after wind.

 ¹⁵What is ^(O)crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.

 ¹⁶I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased ^(P)wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."

 ¹⁷And I ^(Q)set my mind to know wisdom and to ^(R)know madness and folly; I realized that this also is ^(S)striving after wind.

 ¹⁸Because ^(T)in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.