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Everything Is Meaningless
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
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“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
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What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?
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The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
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The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
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All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
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All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.
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What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
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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.
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I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!
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I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
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What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
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I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
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For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.
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Pleasures Are Meaningless
I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.
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“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
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I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
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I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.
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I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.
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I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
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Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
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Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?
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I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
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The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
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Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?” I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”
