1:3 What does a person gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
1:4 Generations come, generations go, but the earth remains forever.
1:5 The sun rises, the sun sets; then it speeds to its place and rises there.
1:6 The wind blows south, then it turns north; the wind blows all around and keeps returning to its rounds.
1:7 All the rivers flow to the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place where the rivers flow, there they keep on flowing.
1:8 Everything is wearisome, more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, the ear not filled up with hearing.
1:9 What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
1:10 Is there something of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It existed already in the ages before us.
1:11 No one remembers the people of long ago; and those to come will not be remembered by those who come after them.
1:12 I, Kohelet, have been king over Isra’el in Yerushalayim.
1:13 I wisely applied myself to seek out and investigate everything done under heaven. What a bothersome task God has given humanity to keep us occupied!
1:14 I have seen all the activities that are done under the sun, and it’s all pointless, feeding on wind.
1:15 What is crooked can’t be straightened; what is not there can’t be counted.
1:16 I said to myself, “Look, I have acquired much wisdom, more than anyone ruling Yerushalayim before me.” Yes, I experienced a great deal of wisdom and knowledge;
1:17 yet when I applied myself to understanding wisdom and knowledge, as well as stupidity and folly, I came to see that this too was merely feeding on wind.
1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief; the more knowledge, the more suffering.
Your support helps pay our hosting costs, and
- with a little bit extra -
lets us pay transcribers and proofreaders.
If you can help, Click here to become a Patreon:
www.patreon.com/IslamAwakened Thank you!