| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New Living Translation |
| 1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. | 1These are the words of the Teacher, King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem. Everything Is Meaningless |
| 2"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity." | 2“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” |
| 3What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? | 3What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? |
| 4A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. | 4Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. |
| 5Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. | 5The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. |
| 6Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. | 6The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. |
| 7All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again. | 7Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. |
| 8All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. | 8Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. |
| 9That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. | 9History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. |
| 10Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new "? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. | 10Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. |
| 11There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still. | 11We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now. The Teacher Speaks: The Futility of Wisdom |
| 12I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. | 12I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. |
| 13And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. | 13I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. |
| 14I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. | 14I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
| 15What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. | 15What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. |
| 16I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." | 16I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.” |
| 17And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. | 17So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. |
| 18Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain. | 18The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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