1. The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem.
2. Ecclesiastes said: Vanity of vanities! Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!
3. What more does a man have from all his labor, as he labors under the sun?
4. A generation passes away, and a generation arrives. But the earth stands forever.
5. The sun rises and sets; it returns to its place, and from there, being born again,
6. it circles through the south, and arcs toward the north. The spirit continues on, illuminating everything in its circuit, and turning again in its cycle.
7. All rivers enter into the sea, and the sea does not overflow. To the place from which the rivers go out, they return, so that they may flow again.
8. Such things are difficult; man is not able to explain them with words. The eye is not satisfied by seeing, nor is the ear fulfilled by hearing.