### Everything Is Meaningless 1 The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”     says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless!     Everything is meaningless.” 3 What do people gain from all their labours     at which they toil under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go,     but the earth remains forever. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets,     and hurries back to where it rises. 6 The wind blows to the south     and turns to the north; round and round it goes,     ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea,     yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from,     there they return again. 8 All things are wearisome,     more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing,     nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again,     what has been done will be done again;     there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which one can say,     “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago;     it was here before our time. 11 No one remembers the former generations,     and even those yet to come will not be remembered     by those who follow them. ### Wisdom Is Meaningless 12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;     what is lacking cannot be counted. 16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of [[Madness]] and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. 18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;     the more knowledge, the more grief. `Concepts:` [[Religion]] `Knowledge Base:`