Parallel Bible results for "Ecclesiastes 1:1-8"

Ecclesiastes 1:1-8

The Message Bible MSG

1 These are the words of the Quester, David's son and king in Jerusalem:

2 Smoke, nothing but smoke. [That's what the Quester says.] There's nothing to anything - it's all smoke.

3 What's there to show for a lifetime of work, a lifetime of working your fingers to the bone?

4 One generation goes its way, the next one arrives, but nothing changes - it's business as usual for old planet earth.

5 The sun comes up and the sun goes down, then does it again, and again - the same old round.

6 The wind blows south, the wind blows north. Around and around and around it blows, blowing this way, then that - the whirling, erratic wind.

7 All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea never fills up. The rivers keep flowing to the same old place, and then start all over and do it again.

8 Everything's boring, utterly boring - no one can find any meaning in it. Boring to the eye, boring to the ear.

New International Version NIV

1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?

4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.

6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.

7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

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