Ecclesiastes 1:1-2:11

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?
⁴A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the ^(D)earth ^[a]remains forever.
⁵Also, ^(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.
⁷All 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.
⁸All 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.
¹⁰Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
It has already existed for ages
Which were before us.
¹¹There 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

¹²I, the ^(J)Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is ^(N)futility and striving after wind. ¹⁵What is ^(O)crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I ^[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.” ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸Because ^(T)in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.

The Futility of Pleasure and Possessions

2 I said ^[o]to myself, “Come now, I will test you with ^(U)pleasure. So ^[p]enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility. ²^(V)I said of laughter, “It is senseless,” and of pleasure, “What does this accomplish?” ³I explored with my ^[q]mind how to ^(W)refresh my body with wine while my ^[r]mind was guiding me wisely; and how to seize ^(X)foolishness, until I could see ^(Y)what good there is for the sons of mankind ^[s]to do under heaven for the few ^[t]years of their lives. ⁴I enlarged my works: I ^(Z)built houses for myself, I planted ^(AA)vineyards for myself; ⁵I made ^(AB)gardens and ^(AC)parks for myself, and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; ⁶I made ^(AD)ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and I had ^[u]^(AE)slaves born at home. I also possessed flocks and ^(AF)herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also amassed for myself silver and ^(AG)gold, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself ^(AH)male and female singers, and the pleasures of the sons of mankind: many concubines.

⁹Then I became ^(AI)great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. ¹⁰^(AJ)All that my eyes desired, I did not refuse them. I did not restrain my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor; and this was my ^(AK)reward for all my labor. ¹¹So I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had ^[v]exerted, and behold, all was ^(AL)futility and striving after wind, and there was ^(AM)no benefit under the sun.

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 2:1 Lit in my heart
Ecclesiastes 2:1 Lit consider with goodness
Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit heart
Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit heart
Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit which they do
Ecclesiastes 2:3 Lit days
Ecclesiastes 2:7 Lit sons
Ecclesiastes 2:11 Lit labored to do

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

New American Standard Bible

¹³The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: ^(A)fear God and ^(B)keep His commandments, because this applies to ^(C)every person. ¹⁴For ^(D)God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.