Ecclesiastes 1:13-17

New International Version

¹³ I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.^(A) What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!^{(B) 14} I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(C)

¹⁶ I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;^(E) I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,^(F) and also of madness and folly,^(G) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.