[1] These are the words of the Teacher. He was the son of David. He was also the king in Jerusalem. [2] “Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is completely meaningless! Nothing has any meaning.” [3] What do people get for all their work? Why do they work so hard on this earth? [4] People come and people go. But the earth remains forever. [5] The sun rises. Then it sets. And then it hurries back to where it rises. [6] The wind blows to the south. Then it turns to the north. Around and around it goes. It always returns to where it started. [7] Every stream flows into the ocean. But the ocean never gets full. The streams return to the place they came from. [8] All things are tiresome. They are more tiresome than anyone can say. But our eyes never see enough of anything. Our ears never hear enough. [9] Everything that has ever been will come back again. Everything that has ever been done will be done again. Nothing is new on earth. [10] There isn’t anything about which someone can say, “Look! Here’s something new.” It was already here long ago. It was here before we were. [11] No one remembers the people of long ago. Even those who haven’t been born yet won’t be remembered by those who will be born after them. [12] I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. [13] I decided to study things carefully. I used my wisdom to check everything out. I looked into everything that is done on earth. What a heavy load God has put on human beings! [14] I’ve seen what is done on this earth. All of it is meaningless. It’s like chasing the wind. [15] People can’t straighten things that are crooked. They can’t count things that don’t even exist. [16] I said to myself, “Look, I’ve now grown wiser than anyone who ruled over Jerusalem in the past. I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge.” [17] Then I used my mind to understand what it really means to be wise. And I wanted to know what foolish pleasure is all about. But I found out that it’s also like chasing the wind. [18] A lot of human wisdom leads to a lot of sorrow. More knowledge only brings more sadness.
