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1:1  The words of Ecclesiastes, David’s son, king in Jerusalem.
1:2  “Nothing but vapor,” Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”
1:3  What does anyone gain by all his hard work, at which he works hard under the sun?
1:4  A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth keeps standing forever.
1:5  The sun rises and the sun sets. It hurries back, panting and out of breath, to its starting point, where it rises again.
1:6  The wind goes round and round. Blowing south, then blowing north, the wind keeps going around in circles.
1:7  All streams keep flowing to the sea, but the sea is never full. The streams keep coming back to the same place, and then they flow out again.
1:8  Everything is tedious and tiresome, more than one can tell. No eye ever sees enough, and no ear ever gets its fill of hearing.
1:9  Whatever has been is what will be again, and whatever has already been done is what will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.
1:10  Is there a single thing about which one can say, “Look, this is new”? It was already here ages ago, long before us.
1:11  No one remembers the people who came before us, and as for those who are coming—after they are gone, no one will remember them either.
1:12  I, Ecclesiastes, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
1:13  I applied my heart to seek out and explore with wisdom everything done under the sky. (What a burdensome task God has given the children of Adam to keep them busy!)
1:14  I have seen all the actions done under the sun, and, look, it is all nothing but vapor. It is all chasing the wind.
1:15  Whatever is crooked cannot be straightened. Whatever is not there cannot be counted.
1:16  I thought in my heart, “Look, I have become great and accumulated more wisdom than anyone ruling over Jerusalem before me. My mind has absorbed so much wisdom and knowledge.”
1:17  I applied my heart to understand wisdom and knowledge, madness and stupidity. I realized that this too is chasing the wind.
1:18  In fact, with much wisdom comes much frustration. The more knowledge, the more pain!