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1:1  The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1:2  Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
1:3  What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?
1:4  A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.
1:5  The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises.
1:6  The wind blows to the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.
1:7  All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they continue to flow.
1:8  All things are wearisome; more than one can express; the eye is not satisfied with 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  Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been, in the ages before us.
1:11  The people of long ago are not remembered, nor will there be any remembrance of people yet to come by those who come after them.
1:12  I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem,
1:13  applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with.
1:14  I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
1:15  What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
1:16  I said to myself, ‘I have acquired great wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.’
1:17  And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.
1:18  For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.