1. The words of the Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem:
2. “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher,“Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!”
3. What benefit do people get from all the effortwhich they expend on earth?
4. A generation comes and a generation goes,but the earth remains the same through the ages.
5. The sun rises and the sun sets;it hurries away to a place from which it rises again.
6. The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north;round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns.