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

1:2  " Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All constitutes vanity."

1:3   What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?

1:4  A generation goes and a generation comes,But the earth remains forever.

1:5  Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.

1:6   Blowing toward the south,Then turning toward the north,The wind continues swirling along;And on its circular courses the wind returns.

1:7  All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea does not fill.To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.

1:8  All things become weary; Man cannot tell it. The eye has no satisfaction with seeing, Nor does the ear fill with hearing.

1:9   That which has come before will occur again, And that which one has done will happen again.So nothing new occurs under the sun.

1:10  Can anything happen of which one might say,

1:11  There exists no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will exist for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.

1:12  I, the Preacher, have served as king over Israel in Jerusalem.

1:13  And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has happened under heaven It proves a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to suffer affliction.

1:14  I have seen all the works which have occurred under the sun, and behold, all seems like vanity and striving after wind.

1:15  What has grown crooked cannot become straightened and what lacks no one cannot count.

1:16  I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who ruled over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."

1:17  And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also seems like striving after wind.

1:18  Because in much wisdom one has much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.