Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 1:8-18"

Ecclesiastes 1:8-18

New Century Version NCV

8 Everything is boring, so boring that you don't even want to talk about it. Words come again and again to our ears, but we never hear enough, nor can we ever really see all we want to see.

9 All things continue the way they have been since the beginning. What has happened will happen again; there is nothing new here on earth.

10 Someone might say, "Look, this is new," but really it has always been here. It was here before we were.

11 People don't remember what happened long ago, and in the future people will not remember what happens now. Even later, other people will not remember what was done before them.

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

13 I decided to use my wisdom to learn about everything that happens on earth. I learned that God has given us terrible things to face.

14 I looked at everything done on earth and saw that it is all useless, like chasing the wind.

15 If something is crooked, you can't make it straight. If something is missing, you can't say it is there.

16 I said to myself, "I have become very wise and am now wiser than anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. I know what wisdom and knowledge really are."

17 So I decided to find out about wisdom and knowledge and also about foolish thinking, but this turned out to be like chasing the wind.

18 With much wisdom comes much disappointment; the person who gains more knowledge also gains more sorrow.

New International Version NIV

8 All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.

11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

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.