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Ecclesiastes 1 New King James Version (NKJV)

The Vanity of Life

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, ^(A)king in Jerusalem.

²“Vanity^(B)^[a] of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, ^(C)all is vanity.”

³^(D)What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he ^[b]toils under the sun?
⁴One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
^(E)But the earth abides forever.
⁵^(F)The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And ^[c]hastens to the place where it arose.
⁶^(G)The wind goes toward the south,
And turns around to the north;
The wind whirls about continually,
And comes again on its circuit.
⁷^(H)All the rivers run into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full;
To the place from which the rivers come,
There they return again.
⁸All things are ^[d]full of labor;
Man cannot express it.
^(I)The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹^(J)That which has been is what will be,
That which is done is what will be done,
And there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰Is there anything of which it may be said,
“See, this is new”?
It has already been in ancient times before us.
¹¹There is ^(K)no remembrance of former things,
Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come
By those who will come after.

The Grief of Wisdom

¹²I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I set my heart to seek and ^(L)search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; ^(M)this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be ^[e]exercised. ¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

¹⁵^(N)What is crooked cannot be made straight,
And what is lacking cannot be numbered.

¹⁶I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained ^(O)more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has ^[f]understood great wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷^(P)And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.

¹⁸For ^(Q)in much wisdom is much grief,
And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

New King James Version (NKJV)