Ecclesiastes 1
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.
The Futility of Wisdom
12 I, the (J)Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I (K)set my [i]mind to seek and (L)explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a [j](M)sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled. 14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is (N)futility and striving after wind. 15 What is (O)crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I [k]said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased (P)wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my [l]mind has observed [m]a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 And I (Q)applied my [n]mind to know wisdom and to (R)know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is (S)striving after wind. 18 Because (T)in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
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 1:13 Lit heart
- Ecclesiastes 1:13 Lit evil
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Lit spoke with my heart, saying
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Lit heart
- Ecclesiastes 1:16 Lit an abundance
- Ecclesiastes 1:17 Lit heart
Ecclesiastes 1
International Standard Version
The Theme
1 The words of the Teacher,[a] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 “Utterly pointless,”[b]
says the Teacher.
“Absolutely pointless;
everything is pointless.”
3 What does a man gain
from all of the work that he undertakes on earth?[c]
The Predictability of Life
4 A generation goes,
a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises,
the sun sets,
then rushes back to where it arose.
6 The wind blows southward,
then northward, constantly circulating,
and the wind comes back again in its courses.
7 All the rivers flow toward the sea,
but the sea is never full;
then rivers return to the headwaters[d] where they began.
8 Everything is wearisome,
more than man is able to express.
The eye is never satisfied by seeing,
nor the ear by hearing.
9 Whatever has happened, will happen again;
whatever has been done, will be done again.
There is nothing new on earth.
10 Does anything exist about which someone might say,
“Look at this! Is this new?”
It happened ages ago;
it existed before we did.
11 No one remembers those in the past,
nor will they be remembered
by those who come after them.
A Testimony to an Unwise Search
12 I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I dedicated myself to using wisdom for study and discovery of everything that is done under heaven.[e] God uses terrible things so human beings will struggle with life.[f] 14 I observed every activity done on earth. My conclusion: all of it is pointless—like chasing after the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight;
what is not there cannot be counted.
16 I told myself, “I have become greater and wiser than anyone who ruled before me in Jerusalem—yes, I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 So I dedicated myself to learn about wisdom and knowledge, and about insanity and foolishness. And I discovered that this is also like chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom there is much sorrow;
the more someone adds to knowledge,
the more someone adds to grief.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or Speaker, Or Philosopher, and so throughout the book
- Ecclesiastes 1:2 Or Utter vanity; and so throughout the book
- Ecclesiastes 1:3 Lit. under the sun; i.e. from an earthly perspective; and so throughout the book
- Ecclesiastes 1:7 Lit. place
- Ecclesiastes 1:13 I.e. from a heavenly perspective
- Ecclesiastes 1:13 The Heb. lacks with life
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