1
The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: 2 Vanity
of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 3 What profit has man from all the labor which he
toils at under the sun?
4 One
generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. 5 The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses
on to the place where it rises. 6 Blowing now
toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again,
resuming its rounds. 7 All rivers go to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep
on going. 8 All speech is labored; there is
nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled
with hearing. 9 What has been, that will be;
what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. 10 Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is
new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. 11 There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of
those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.
12
I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel
in Jerusalem, 13 and I applied my mind to search and investigate in
wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has
appointed for men to be busied about. 14 I have
seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a
chase after wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,
and what is
missing cannot be supplied.
16
Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom
beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of
wisdom and knowledge"; 17 yet when I
applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that
this also is a chase after wind.
18 For in much wisdom there is much sorrow,
and he who
stores up knowledge stores up grief.
No comments:
Post a Comment