| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1The words of the Teacher, 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"Futile! Futile!" laments the Teacher, "Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!" | 2“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” |
| 3What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth? | 3What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? |
| 4A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages. | 4Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. |
| 5The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries away to a place from which it rises again. | 5The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. |
| 6The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. | 6The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. |
| 7All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will 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 this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content 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. |
| 9What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. | 9History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. |
| 10Is there anything about which someone can say, "Look at this! It is new!"? It was already done long ago, before our time. | 10Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. |
| 11No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations. | 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 Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. | 12I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem. |
| 13I decided to carefully and thoroughly examine all that has been accomplished on earth. I concluded: God has given people a burdensome task that keeps them occupied. | 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 reflected on everything that is accomplished by man on earth, and I concluded: Everything he has accomplished is futile--like chasing the wind! | 14I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind. |
| 15What is bent cannot be straightened, and what is missing cannot be supplied. | 15What is wrong cannot be made right. What is missing cannot be recovered. |
| 16I thought to myself, "I have become much wiser than any of my predecessors who ruled over Jerusalem; I have acquired much 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.” |
| 17So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the 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. |
| 18For with great wisdom comes great frustration; whoever increases his knowledge merely increases his heartache. | 18The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow. |
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