Font Size
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
New American Standard Bible
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
New American Standard Bible
The Futility of All Endeavors
1 The words of the (A)Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 “(B)Futility of futilities,” says the Preacher,
“Futility of futilities! All is futility.”
3 (C)What advantage does a person have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
4 A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the (D)earth [a]remains forever.
5 Also, (E)the sun rises and the sun sets;
And [b]hurrying to its place it rises there again.
6 [c](F)Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues [d]swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
7 All the rivers [e]flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers [f]flow,
There they [g]flow again.
8 All things are wearisome;
No one can tell it.
(G)The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
9 (H)What has been, it is what will be,
And what has been done, it is what will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for ages
Which were before us.
11 There is (I)no remembrance of the [h]earlier things,
And of the later things as well, which will occur,
There will be no remembrance of them
Among those who will come later still.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:4 Lit stands
- Ecclesiastes 1:5 Lit panting
- Ecclesiastes 1:6 Lit Going
- Ecclesiastes 1:6 Lit turning
- Ecclesiastes 1:7 Lit go
- Ecclesiastes 1:7 Lit go
- Ecclesiastes 1:7 Lit go
- Ecclesiastes 1:11 Lit first; or former
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
New International Version
Everything Is Meaningless
1 The words of the Teacher,[a](A) son of David, king in Jerusalem:(B)
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”(C)
3 What do people gain from all their labors
at which they toil under the sun?(D)
4 Generations come and generations go,
but the earth remains forever.(E)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
and hurries back to where it rises.(F)
6 The wind blows to the south
and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
ever returning on its course.
7 All streams flow into the sea,
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
there they return again.(G)
8 All things are wearisome,
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,(H)
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;(I)
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
11 No one remembers the former generations,(J)
and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow them.(K)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 2 and 12
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.