Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 1"

Ecclesiastes 1

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.

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.

Good News Translation GNT

1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.

2 It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless.

3 You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?

4 Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same.

5 The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again.

6 The wind blows south, the wind blows north - round and round and back again.

7 Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again.

8 Everything leads to weariness - a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.

9 What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.

10 "Look," they say, "here is something new!" But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born.

11 No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

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.