ECCLESIASTES 1:1-18 EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS

EVERYTHING IS MEANINGLESS

ECCLESIASTES 1:1-18

1-The words of the teacher," son of David,king in Jerusalem:

2-"Meaningless! Meaningless!"

says the teacher.

"Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless."

3-What does man gain from all his labor

at which he toils under the sun?

4-Generatins come and generations go,

but the earth remains forever.

5-The sun rises and the sun sets,

and hurries back to where it rises.

6-The wind blows to the south

and turns to the north;

round and round it goes,

ever returning on its course.

7-All streams flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full.

To the place the stream comes from,

there they return againe.

8-All things are wearisome,

more than one can say.

The eye never has enough seeing,

nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9-What has been will be againe,

what has been done will be done againe;

there is nouthing new under the sun.

10-Is there anything of which you can say,

" Look! This is something new"?

It was here already,long ago;

it was here before our time.

11-There is no remembrance of men of old,

and even those are yet to come

will not be emembered

by those who follow.

12-I, the teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13-I devoted my self to study and to explore by wisdom all

that is done under heaven.What heavy burden God

has laid on men!

14I have seen all things that are

done under the sun; all of them are meaningless,a

chasing after the wind.

15-What is twisted cannot be straightened;

what is lacking cannot be counted.

16-I thought to my self," Look,I have grown and increeased

in wisdom more than any one who has ruled

over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of

wisdom and knowledge." and also of madness and folly,

but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18-For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.