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1:1  The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1:2  “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.”
1:3  What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?
1:4  A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
1:5  The sun rises and the sun sets; panting, it hurries back to the place where it rises.
1:6  Gusting to the south, turning to the north, turning, turning, goes the wind, and the wind returns in its cycles.
1:7  All the streams flow to the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.
1:8  All things are wearisome, more than anyone can say. The eye is not satisfied by seeing or the ear filled with hearing.
1:9  What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
1:10  Can one say about anything, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.
1:11  There is no remembrance of those who came before; and of those who will come after there will also be no remembrance by those who follow them.
1:12  I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
1:13  I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.
1:14  I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
1:15  What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.
1:16  I said to myself, “See, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge.”
1:17  I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.
1:18  For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.