Ecclesiastes 1:4-11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.(A)
5 The sun rises, and the sun goes down
and hurries to the place where it rises.(B)
6 The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
round and round goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.(C)
7 All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they continue to flow.
8 All things[a] are wearisome,
more than one can express;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing
or the ear filled with hearing.(D)
9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.(E)
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been
in the ages before us.
11 The people of long ago are not remembered,
nor will there be any remembrance
of people yet to come
by those who come after them.
Footnotes
- 1.8 Or words
Ecclesiastes 1:4-11
Evangelical Heritage Version
4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again. 6 The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles. 7 All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.
8 Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.
9 Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us. 11 No one remembers the people who[a] came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.
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- Ecclesiastes 1:11 Or the events that
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.