All Is Vanity

¹The words of athe Preacher,1 the son of David, bking in Jerusalem.

²cVanity2 of vanities, says athe Preacher,

cvanity of vanities! dAll is vanity.

³eWhat fdoes man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

⁴A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but gthe earth remains forever.

⁵hThe sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens3 to the place where it rises.

⁶iThe wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

⁷All jstreams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

⁸All things are full of weariness;

a man cannot utter it;

kthe eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear filled with hearing.

⁹lWhat has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.

¹⁰Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has been malready

in the ages before us.

¹¹There is no nremembrance of former things,4

nor will there be any remembrance

of later things5 yet to be

among those who come after.