| |
| VANITY 1 of Vanities, saith the Preacher, | |
| Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity. | |
| What profit hath a man of all his labour | |
| wherein he laboureth under the sun? | |
| Generation passeth away, and generation cometh, | 5 |
| and the earth abideth for ever. | |
| The sun ariseth and the sun goeth down, | |
| and hasteth to the place where he ariseth. | |
| The wind goeth toward the south, | |
| and turneth round unto the north; | 10 |
| Around and around goeth the wind, | |
| and on its rounds the wind returneth. | |
| All the rivers run into the sea, | |
| yet the sea is not full; | |
| Unto the place whence the rivers come, | 15 |
| thither they return again. | |
| All things are full of weariness; | |
| man cannot utter it. | |
| The eye is not satisfied with seeing, | |
| nor the ear filled with hearing. | 20 |
| The thing that hath been is that which shall be, | |
| and that which is done is that which shall be done: | |
| and there is nothing new under the sun. | |
| Is there anything whereof it may be said, See, this is new? | |
| it hath already been in the ages that were before us. | 25 |
| There is no remembrance with us of former days, | |
| neither of the days that shall be will there be any remembrance among them that shall come after. | |
| I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised withal. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit. | |
| The crooked cannot be made straight | |
| and that which is wanting cannot be number’d. | 30 |
| I communed with mine own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten me great wisdom above all that were before me in Jerusalem: yea my heart had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit, for | |
| In much wisdom is much grief, | |
| and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. | |
