Ecclesiastes 1

Good News Translation

Life Is Useless

1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.

²It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. ³You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? ⁴^(A)Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. ⁵The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again. ⁶The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again. ⁷Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again. ⁸Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. ⁹What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. ¹⁰“Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born. ¹¹No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

The Philosopher's Experience

¹²I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world.

God has laid a miserable fate upon us. ¹⁴I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind. ¹⁵You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

¹⁶^(B)I told myself, “I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are.” ¹⁷I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind. ¹⁸The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.

Ecclesiastes 1

Complete Jewish Bible

1 The words of Kohelet the son of David, king in Yerushalayim:

²Pointless! Pointless! — says Kohelet —
Utterly meaningless! Nothing matters!
³What does a person gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun?

⁴Generations come, generations go,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵The sun rises, the sun sets;
then it speeds to its place and rises there.
⁶The wind blows south,
then it turns north;
the wind blows all around
and keeps returning to its rounds.
⁷All the rivers flow to the sea,
yet the sea is not full;
to the place where the rivers flow,
there they keep on flowing.

⁸Everything is wearisome,
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
the ear not filled up with hearing.
⁹What has been is what will be,
what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new
under the sun.
¹⁰Is there something of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It existed already in the ages before us.
¹¹No one remembers the people of long ago;
and those to come will not be remembered
by those who come after them.

¹²I, Kohelet, have been king over Isra’el in Yerushalayim. ¹³I wisely applied myself to seek out and investigate everything done under heaven. What a bothersome task God has given humanity to keep us occupied! ¹⁴I have seen all the activities that are done under the sun, and it’s all pointless, feeding on wind.

¹⁵What is crooked can’t be straightened;
what is not there can’t be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Look, I have acquired much wisdom, more than anyone ruling Yerushalayim before me.” Yes, I experienced a great deal of wisdom and knowledge; ¹⁷yet when I applied myself to understanding wisdom and knowledge, as well as stupidity and folly, I came to see that this too was merely feeding on wind.

¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief;
the more knowledge, the more suffering.

Ecclesiastes 1

The Message

The Quester

1 These are the words of the Quester, David’s son and king in Jerusalem:

^2-11Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That’s what the Quester says.]
    There’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke.
What’s there to show for a lifetime of work,
    a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?
One generation goes its way, the next one arrives,
    but nothing changes—it’s business as usual for old planet earth.
The sun comes up and the sun goes down,
    then does it again, and again—the same old round.
The wind blows south, the wind blows north.
    Around and around and around it blows,
    blowing this way, then that—the whirling, erratic wind.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
    but the sea never fills up.
The rivers keep flowing to the same old place,
    and then start all over and do it again.
Everything’s boring, utterly boring—
    no one can find any meaning in it.
Boring to the eye,
    boring to the ear.
What was will be again,
    what happened will happen again.
There’s nothing new on this earth.
    Year after year it’s the same old thing.
Does someone call out, “Hey, this is new”?
    Don’t get excited—it’s the same old story.
Nobody remembers what happened yesterday.
    And the things that will happen tomorrow?
Nobody’ll remember them either.
    Don’t count on being remembered.

I’ve Seen It All

^12-14Call me “the Quester.” I’ve been king over Israel in Jerusalem. I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there’s not much to write home about. God hasn’t made it easy for us. I’ve seen it all and it’s nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind.

¹⁵Life’s a corkscrew that can’t be straightened,
A minus that won’t add up.

^16-17I said to myself, “I know more and I’m wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I’ve stockpiled wisdom and knowledge.” What I’ve finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind.

¹⁸Much learning earns you much trouble.
The more you know, the more you hurt.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

The Message (MSG)

Ecclesiastes 1 Good News Translation