1. The words of Kohelet , son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2. Futile! Futile! says Kohelet. Completely meaningless! Everything is futile!
3. What does a person gain in all his labor that he toils under the sun?
4. A generation comes, and a generation goes, but the earth remains forever.
5. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to the place it rises.
6. The wind goes toward the south, and circles around to the north. Round and round it swirls about, ever returning to its circuits.
7. All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place where the rivers flow, there they go again.
8. All things are wearisome. No one can express them. The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.