Ecclesiastes 1:1-10

Good News Translation

Life Is Useless

1 These are the words of the Philosopher, David's son, who was king in Jerusalem.

² It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher. Life is useless, all useless. ³ You spend your life working, laboring, and what do you have to show for it? ^4 (A)Generations come and generations go, but the world stays just the same. ⁵ The sun still rises, and it still goes down, going wearily back to where it must start all over again. ⁶ The wind blows south, the wind blows north—round and round and back again. ⁷ Every river flows into the sea, but the sea is not yet full. The water returns to where the rivers began, and starts all over again. ⁸ Everything leads to weariness—a weariness too great for words. Our eyes can never see enough to be satisfied; our ears can never hear enough. ⁹ What has happened before will happen again. What has been done before will be done again. There is nothing new in the whole world. ¹⁰ “Look,” they say, “here is something new!” But no, it has all happened before, long before we were born.