Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 VOICE

[1] These are the words of the teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. [2] Teacher: Life is fleeting, like a passing mist. It is like trying to catch hold of a breath; All vanishes like a vapor; everything is a great vanity. [3] What good does it do anyone to work so hard again and again, sun up to sundown? All his labor to gain but a little? [4] One generation comes, another goes; but the earth continues to remain. [5] The sun rises and the sun sets, laboring to come up quickly to its place again and again. [6] The wind in its travels blows toward the south, then swings back around to the north. Back and forth, returning in its circuit again and again. [7] All rivers flow to the sea, but the sea is never full. To the place where the rivers flow, there the water returns to flow once again. [8] Words, words, words! So many words! They are wearisome things; and yet people cannot refrain from speaking. No eye has ever surveyed the world and said, "I have seen enough"; no ear has ever listened to creation and said, "I have heard enough." [9] What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun; the future only repeats the past. [10] One person may say of some idea, "Pay attention to this; it's original!" But that same idea has already been expressed; it's been with us through the ages. [11] We do not remember those people and events of long ago, as future generations will not remember what is yet to come. [12] I, the teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. [13] I decided to seek out and study the wisdom of the ages, of all that had been done under the heavens. I soon discovered the harsh realities of the work God has given us that keeps us so busy. [14] I have witnessed all that is done under the sun, and indeed, all is fleeting, like trying to embrace the wind. [15] There is an old saying: Something crooked cannot be made straight, and something missing cannot be counted. [16] I mused over it all and thought to myself, "I have done great things, and I have gained more wisdom than anyone who reigned over Jerusalem before me. I have contemplated great wisdom and knowledge." [17] I decided to study wisdom and instead acquainted myself with madness and folly. It, too, seemed like trying to pursue the wind, [18] for as my wisdom increased, so did my vexation. As my knowledge grew, so did my pain.