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Everything Is Meaningless

These are the words of the Teacher. He was the son of David. He was also the king in Jerusalem.

“Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Everything is completely meaningless!
    Nothing has any meaning.”

What do people get for all their work?
    Why do they work so hard on this earth?
People come and people go.
    But the earth remains forever.
The sun rises. Then it sets.
    And then it hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south.
    Then it turns to the north.
Around and around it goes.
    It always returns to where it started.
Every stream flows into the ocean.
    But the ocean never gets full.
The streams return
    to the place they came from.
All things are tiresome.
    They are more tiresome than anyone can say.
But our eyes never see enough of anything.
    Our ears never hear enough.
Everything that has ever been will come back again.
    Everything that has ever been done will be done again.
    Nothing is new on earth.
10 There isn’t anything about which someone can say,
    “Look! Here’s something new.”
It was already here long ago.
    It was here before we were.
11 No one remembers the people of long ago.
    Even those who haven’t been born yet
won’t be remembered
    by those who will be born after them.

Wisdom Is Meaningless

12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I decided to study things carefully. I used my wisdom to check everything out. I looked into everything that is done on earth. What a heavy load God has put on human beings! 14 I’ve seen what is done on this earth. All of it is meaningless. It’s like chasing the wind.

15 People can’t straighten things that are crooked.
    They can’t count things that don’t even exist.

16 I said to myself, “Look, I’ve now grown wiser than anyone who ruled over Jerusalem in the past. I have a lot of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I used my mind to understand what it really means to be wise. And I wanted to know what foolish pleasure is all about. But I found out that it’s also like chasing the wind.

18 A lot of human wisdom leads to a lot of sorrow.
    More knowledge only brings more sadness.

Pleasure Is Meaningless

I said to myself, “Come on. I’ll try out pleasure. I want to find out if it is good.” But it also proved to be meaningless. “Laughter doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “And what can pleasure do for me?” I tried cheering myself up by drinking wine. I even tried living in a foolish way. But wisdom was still guiding my mind. I wanted to see what was good for people to do on earth during their short lives.

So I started some large projects. I built houses for myself. I planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made lakes to water groves of healthy trees. I bought male and female slaves. And I had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem ever had before. I stored up silver and gold for myself. I gathered up the treasures of kings and their kingdoms. I got some male and female singers. I also got many women for myself. Women delight the hearts of men. I became far more important than anyone in Jerusalem had ever been before. And in spite of everything, I didn’t lose my wisdom.

10 I gave myself everything my eyes wanted.
    There wasn’t any pleasure that I refused to give myself.
I took delight in everything I did.
    And that was what I got for all my work.
11 But then I looked over everything my hands had done.
    I saw what I had worked so hard to get.
And nothing had any meaning.
    It was like chasing the wind.
    Nothing was gained on this earth.

Wisdom and Foolish Pleasure Are Meaningless

12 I decided to think about wisdom.
    I also thought about foolish pleasure.
What more can a new king do?
    Can he do anything more than others have already done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than foolishness,
    just as light is better than darkness.
14 The eyes of a wise person see things clearly.
    A person who is foolish lives in darkness.
But I finally realized that death catches up
    with both of them.

15 Then I said to myself,

“What happens to a foolish person will catch up with me too.
    So what do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
    “That doesn’t have any meaning either.”
16 Like a foolish person, a wise person won’t be remembered very long.
    The days have already come when both of them have been forgotten.
Like a person who is foolish,
    a wise person must die too!

Work Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life. That’s because the work done on this earth made me sad. None of it has any meaning. It’s like chasing the wind. 18 I hated everything I had worked for on earth. I’ll have to leave all of it to someone who lives after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Either way, they’ll take over everything on earth I’ve worked so hard for. That doesn’t have any meaning either. 20 So I began to lose hope because of all my hard work on this earth. 21 A person might use wisdom, knowledge and skill to do their work. But then they have to leave everything they own to someone who hasn’t worked for it. That doesn’t have any meaning either. In fact, it isn’t fair. 22 What do people get for all their hard work on earth? What do they get for all their worries? 23 As long as they live, their work is nothing but pain and sorrow. Even at night their minds can’t rest. That doesn’t have any meaning either.

24 A person can’t do anything better than eat, drink and be satisfied with their work. I’m finally seeing that those things also come from the hand of God. 25 Without his help, who can eat or find pleasure? 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness to the person who pleases him. But to a sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth. Then the sinner must hand it over to the one who pleases God. That doesn’t have any meaning either. It’s like chasing the wind.

There Is a Time for Everything

There is a time for everything.
    There’s a time for everything that is done on earth.

There is a time to be born.
    And there’s a time to die.
There is a time to plant.
    And there’s a time to pull up what is planted.
There is a time to kill.
    And there’s a time to heal.
There is a time to tear down.
    And there’s a time to build up.
There is a time to weep.
    And there’s a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad.
    And there’s a time to dance.
There is a time to scatter stones.
    And there’s a time to gather them.
There is a time to embrace someone.
    And there’s a time not to embrace.
There is a time to search.
    And there’s a time to stop searching.
There is a time to keep.
    And there’s a time to throw away.
There is a time to tear.
    And there’s a time to mend.
There is a time to be silent.
    And there’s a time to speak.
There is a time to love.
    And there’s a time to hate.
There is a time for war.
    And there’s a time for peace.

What do workers get for their hard work? 10 I’ve seen the heavy load God has put on human beings. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also given people a sense of who he is. But they can’t completely understand what God has done from beginning to end. 12 People should be happy and do good while they live. I know there’s nothing better for them to do than that. 13 Each of them should eat and drink. People should be satisfied with all their hard work. That is God’s gift to them. 14 I know that everything God does will last forever. Nothing can be added to it. And nothing can be taken from it. God does that so people will have respect for him.

15 Everything that now exists has already been.
    And what is coming has existed before.
    God will judge those who treat others badly.

16 Here’s something else I saw on earth.

Where people should be treated right,
    they are treated wrong.
Where people should be treated fairly,
    they are treated unfairly.

17 I said to myself,

“God will judge
    godly and sinful people alike.
He has a time for every act.
    He has a time to judge everything that is done.”

18 I also said to myself, “God tests human beings. He does this so they can see that in certain ways they are like animals. 19 Surely what happens to animals happens to people too. Death waits for people and animals alike. People die, just as animals do. All of them have the same breath. People don’t have any advantage over animals. Nothing has any meaning. 20 People and animals go to the same place. All of them come from dust. And all of them return to dust. 21 Who can know whether the spirit of a person goes up? Who can tell whether the spirit of an animal goes down into the earth?”

22 So a person should enjoy their work. That’s what God made them for. I saw that there’s nothing better for them to do than that. After all, who can show them what will happen after they are gone?

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