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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 profit does a man have from all his labour that he takes under the sun?
4 [One] generation passes away, and [another] generation comes: but the earth abides for ever.
5 The sun also arises, and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it arose.
6 The wind goes toward the south, and turns about to the north; it whirls about continually, and the wind returns again according to its circuits.
7 All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea [is] not full; to the place from where the rivers come, there they return again.
8 All things [are] full of labour; man cannot utter [it]: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 Whatever has happened in the past will continue to happen; and what has been carried out will continue to be carried out: nothing original will ever be publicly visible.
10 Is there anything that could be considered original? It has already existed in the past.
11 But nobody remembers what happened before; and neither will they remember anything that happens in the future.
12 I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all [things] that are done under heaven: this heavy task God has given to the sons of man to be exercised with it.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] pointless and grasping for the wind.
15 [That which is] crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with my own heart, saying, Look, I have become famous, and have obtained more wisdom than all that have been before me in Jerusalem: yes, my heart had great experience in wisdom and knowledge.
17 And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and foolishness: I recognized that this also is chasing the wind.
18 For in much wisdom [is] much frustration: and he that increases knowledge increases sorrow.