Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 1:12-18"

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

Good News Translation GNT

12 I, the Philosopher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I determined that I would examine and study all the things that are done in this world. God has laid a miserable fate upon us.

14 I have seen everything done in this world, and I tell you, it is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

15 You can't straighten out what is crooked; you can't count things that aren't there.

16 I told myself, "I have become a great man, far wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are."

17 I was determined to learn the difference between knowledge and foolishness, wisdom and madness. But I found out that I might as well be chasing the wind.

18 The wiser you are, the more worries you have; the more you know, the more it hurts.

New International Version NIV

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”

17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.