Old Testament · Poetry and wisdom

Ecclesiastes chapter 1

The words of the , , king in Jerusalem.“,” says the Teacher, “vapor of vapors — everything is vapor.”What does anyone actually from all their hard work — all their ?A goes, a generation comes, but the earth just keeps standing, the same.The sun rises, the sun sets, then back to the place where it rises again.The blows south, then circles north — round and round it goes, always circling back on its path.All rivers flow into the , but the sea never fills up. Back to the place where the rivers began, there they flow again.All things are beyond words. The eye never gets its fill of seeing, the ear never has enough of hearing.What has been is what will be. What has been done is what will be done. There is under the sun.Is there anything someone might point to and say, “Look — this is new”? No. It already existed in the that came long before us.No one the people who came before, and those who come after won’t be remembered either — not by those who follow them.I, the Teacher, was in Jerusalem.I set my mind to through everything that happens under the sky. It is a has given human beings to keep them occupied.I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and look — it is all , like .What is cannot be straightened. What is cannot be counted.I said to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom far beyond anyone who ruled Jerusalem before me. My mind has taken in vast .”So I set my mind to understand wisdom, and also . I learned that this too is like chasing after wind.Because the more wisdom you gain, the more you get. And the more you know, the more it .