Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 (NIV)
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Everything Is MeaninglessThe words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
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“Meaningless! Meaningless!”says the Teacher.“Utterly meaningless!Everything is meaningless.”
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What does man gain from all his laborat which he toils under the sun?
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Generations come and generations go,but the earth remains forever.
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The sun rises and the sun sets,and hurries back to where it rises.
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The wind blows to the southand turns to the north;round and round it goes,ever returning on its course.
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All streams flow into the sea,yet the sea is never full.To the place the streams come from,there they return again.
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All things are wearisome,more than one can say.The eye never has enough of seeing,nor the ear its fill of hearing.
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What has been will be again,what has been done will be done again;there is nothing new under the sun.
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Is there anything of which one can say,“Look! This is something new”?It was here already, long ago;it was here before our time.
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There is no remembrance of men of old,and even those who are yet to comewill not be rememberedby those who follow.
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Wisdom Is MeaninglessI, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
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I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men!
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I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
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What is twisted cannot be straightened;what is lacking cannot be counted.
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I thought to myself, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.”
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Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
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For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;the more knowledge, the more grief.
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