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Everything Is Meaningless
The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
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“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
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The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
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No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
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Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
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I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
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All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
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A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
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He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
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I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.
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I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”
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Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.
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Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.
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This too is a grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since they toil for the wind?
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even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
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Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.
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It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.
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Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you—
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For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.
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All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.
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then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
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This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
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Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
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For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.
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Even as fools walk along the road, they lack sense and show everyone how stupid they are.
