Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 - ESV Online

ECCLESIASTES 1:1-11

All Is Vanity

1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,

vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3

What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun? 4

A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever. 5

The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises. 6

The wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns. 7

All streams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again. 8

All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing. 9

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun. 10

Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been already

in the ages before us. 11

There is no remembrance of former things,

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things yet to be

among those who come after.

ESV® Permanent Text Edition (2016). The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers.