1:1  THE WORDS of the Preacher, the son of David and king in Jerusalem.

1:2  Vapor of vapors {and} futility of futilities, says the Preacher. Vapor of vapors {and} futility of futilities! All is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and vainglory).

1:3  What profit does man have left from all his toil at which he toils under the sun? [Is life worth living?]

1:4  One generation goes and another generation comes, but the earth remains forever.

1:5  The sun also rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises.

1:6  The wind goes to the south and circles about to the north; it circles {and} circles about continually, and on its circuit the wind returns again.

1:7  All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from which the rivers come, to there {and} from there they return again.

1:8  All things are weary with toil {and} all words are feeble; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

1:9  The thing that has been--it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.

1:10  Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has already been, in the vast ages of time [recorded or unrecorded] which were before us.

1:11  There is no remembrance of former happenings {or} men, neither will there be any remembrance of happenings of generations that are to come by those who are to come after them.

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

1:13  And I applied myself by heart {and} mind to seek and search out by [human] wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves.

1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind {and} a feeding on wind.

1:15  What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective {and} lacking cannot be counted.

1:16  I entered into counsel with my own mind, saying, Behold, I have acquired great [human] wisdom, yes, more than all who have been over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of [moral] wisdom and [scientific] knowledge.

1:17  And I gave my mind to know [practical] wisdom and to discern [the character of] madness and folly [in which men seem to find satisfaction]; I perceived that this also is a searching after wind {and} a feeding on it.

1:18  For in much [human] wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.