Ecclesiastes 1-4

New International Version

Everything Is Meaningless

1 The words of the Teacher,^[a]^(A) son of David, king in Jerusalem:^(B)

²“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”^(C)

³What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?^(D)
⁴Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains forever.^(E)
⁵The sun rises and the sun sets,
    and hurries back to where it rises.^(F)
⁶The wind blows to the south
    and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
    ever returning on its course.
⁷All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.^(G)
⁸All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,^(H)
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;^(I)
    there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰Is there anything of which one can say,
    “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
    it was here before our time.
¹¹No one remembers the former generations,^(J)
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.^(K)

Wisdom Is Meaningless

¹²I, the Teacher,^(L) was king over Israel in Jerusalem.^(M) ¹³I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.^(N) What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!^(O) ¹⁴I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(P)

¹⁵What is crooked cannot be straightened;^(Q)
what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;^(R) I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,^(S) and also of madness and folly,^(T) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

¹⁸For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;^(U)
the more knowledge, the more grief.^(V)

Pleasures Are Meaningless

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure^(W) to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. ²“Laughter,”^(X) I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” ³I tried cheering myself with wine,^(Y) and embracing folly^(Z)—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

⁴I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself^(AA) and planted vineyards.^(AB) ⁵I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves^(AC) who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸I amassed silver and gold^(AD) for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces.^(AE) I acquired male and female singers,^(AF) and a harem^[b] as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem^(AG) before me.^(AH) In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

¹⁰I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
    I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
    and this was the reward for all my toil.
¹¹Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;^(AI)
    nothing was gained under the sun.^(AJ)

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

¹²Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
    and also madness and folly.^(AK)
What more can the king’s successor do
    than what has already been done?^(AL)
¹³I saw that wisdom^(AM) is better than folly,^(AN)
    just as light is better than darkness.
¹⁴The wise have eyes in their heads,
    while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
    that the same fate overtakes them both.^(AO)

¹⁵Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”^(AP)
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
¹⁶For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;^(AQ)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.^(AR)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!^(AS)

Toil Is Meaningless

¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(AT) ¹⁸I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.^(AU) ¹⁹And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish?^(AV) Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. ²⁰So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. ²¹For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. ²²What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?^(AW) ²³All their days their work is grief and pain;^(AX) even at night their minds do not rest.^(AY) This too is meaningless.

²⁴A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink^(AZ) and find satisfaction in their own toil.^(BA) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,^(BB) ²⁵for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?^(BC) ²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,^(BD) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth^(BE) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.^(BF) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time^(BG) for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,^(BH)
³    a time to kill^(BI) and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent^(BJ) and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil?^(BK) ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.^(BL) ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time.^(BM) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[c] no one can fathom^(BN) what God has done from beginning to end.^(BO) ¹²I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³That each of them may eat and drink,^(BP) and find satisfaction^(BQ) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.^(BR) ¹⁴I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.^(BS)

¹⁵Whatever is has already been,^(BT)
and what will be has been before;^(BU)
and God will call the past to account.^[d]

¹⁶And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

¹⁷I said to myself,

“God will bring into judgment^(BV)
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”^(BW)

¹⁸I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.^(BX) ¹⁹Surely the fate of human beings^(BY) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[e]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.^(BZ) ²¹Who knows if the human spirit rises upward^(CA) and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

²²So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work,^(CB) because that is their lot.^(CC) For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

Oppression, Toil, Friendlessness

4 Again I looked and saw all the oppression^(CD) that was taking place under the sun:

I saw the tears of the oppressed—
    and they have no comforter;
power was on the side of their oppressors—
    and they have no comforter.^(CE)
²And I declared that the dead,^(CF)
    who had already died,
are happier than the living,
    who are still alive.^(CG)
³But better than both
    is the one who has never been born,^(CH)
who has not seen the evil
    that is done under the sun.^(CI)

⁴And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.^(CJ)

⁵Fools fold their hands^(CK)
    and ruin themselves.
⁶Better one handful with tranquillity
    than two handfuls with toil^(CL)
    and chasing after the wind.

⁷Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

⁸There was a man all alone;
    he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
    yet his eyes were not content^(CM) with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
    “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
    a miserable business!

⁹Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
¹¹Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
¹²Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Advancement Is Meaningless

¹³Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning. ¹⁴The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. ¹⁵I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor. ¹⁶There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.