[1:1] These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.
[1:2] It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless.
[1:3] You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it?
[1:4] Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same.
[1:5] The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again.
[1:6] The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again.
[1:7] Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again.
[1:8] Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough.
[1:9] What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world.
[1:10] “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born.
[1:11] No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.