¹The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ²“Vanity of vanities!” says the Teacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” ³What does a person gain in all his toil with which he toils under the sun? ⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever. ⁵The sun rises, and the sun goes down; to its place it hurries, and there it rises again. ⁶The wind goes to the south and goes around to the north; around and around it goes, and on its circuit the wind returns. ⁷All the streams flow to the sea, but the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow. ⁸All things toil continuously; no one can ever finish describing this. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, and the ear is never filled with hearing. ⁹What has been—it is what will be; what has been done—it is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. ¹⁰There is a thing of which it is said, “Look at this! This is new!” But it already existed in ages past before us. ¹¹There is neither remembrance of former generations, nor will there be remembrance of future generations. ¹²I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³I applied my mind to seek and to search by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. It is a grievous task God has given to ⌞humans⌟. ¹⁴I saw all the works that are done under the sun. Look! Everything is vanity and chasing wind. ¹⁵What is twisted cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted. ¹⁶⌞I said to myself⌟, “Look! I have become great and have increased in wisdom more than anyone who ⌞has preceded⌟ me over Jerusalem. ⌞I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge⌟.” ¹⁷So ⌞I dedicated myself⌟ to learn about wisdom and to learn about delusion and folly. However, I discovered that this also is chasing wind. ¹⁸For in much wisdom is much frustration, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.