True Living

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.

The Vanity of Wisdom

¹²I othe Preacher have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I papplied my heart6 to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is an unhappy qbusiness that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹⁴I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is rvanity7 and a striving after wind.8

¹⁵sWhat is crooked cannot be made straight,

and what is lacking cannot be counted.

¹⁶I said in my heart, “I have acquired great twisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷And I uapplied my heart to know wisdom and to know vmadness and folly. I perceived that this also is but ra striving after wind.

¹⁸For win much wisdom is much vexation,

and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

The Vanity of Self-Indulgence

¹I xsaid in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.1 ²I ysaid of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” ³I zsearched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on afolly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. ⁴I made great works. I bbuilt houses and planted cvineyards for myself. ⁵I made myself dgardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. ⁷I bought male and female slaves, and had eslaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of fherds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for myself silver and ggold and the treasure of hkings and iprovinces. I got jsingers, both men and women, and many kconcubines,2 the delight of the sons of man.

⁹So I became great and lsurpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my lwisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart mfound pleasure in all my toil, and this was my nreward for all my toil. ¹¹Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was ovanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing pto be gained under the sun.