Ecclesiastes 1
1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Breath of breaths, said the Teacher; breath of breaths, everything is breath.
3 What does a person gain from all the work they do under the sun?
4 One generation goes, and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets; then it hurries back to the place where it rises.
6 It goes south and turns north; turning without pause, the wind goes and comes back around on its circuits.
7 All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea does not fill up; to the place where the rivers flow, there they flow again.
8 Everything grows weary; no one can say it all. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 What has been is what will be; what has been done is what will be done. There is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which someone says, “Look, this is new”? It already existed in the times before us.
11 There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those who come later will not be remembered by those who come after them.
12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 I devoted my heart to investigating and exploring with wisdom everything done under heaven. It is a bad occupation God has given human beings, to trouble themselves with it.
14 I saw all the works done under the sun, and everything was breath and chasing after the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is missing cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself: “Look, I have grown and gained more wisdom than all who were before me over Jerusalem, and my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.”
17 I devoted my heart to understanding wisdom, and to understanding folly and foolishness. I realized that this too is chasing the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much grief; whoever increases knowledge increases pain.
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app