| 1. | The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. |
| 2. | Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. |
| 3. | What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? |
| 4. | A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever. |
| 5. | The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. |
| 6. | The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. |
| 7. | All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. |
| 8. | All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. |
| 9. | What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. |
| 10. | Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already, in the ages before us. |
| 11. | There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after. |
| 12. | I the Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. |
| 13. | And I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. |
| 14. | I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. |
| 15. | What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered. |
| 16. | I said to myself, "I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge." |
| 17. | And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a striving after wind. |
| 18. | For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. |
