Everything Is Futile

[These are] the words of the Teacher,[fn] the son of David, king in Jerusalem:

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“Futility[fn] of futilities,”

says the Teacher,

“futility of futilities!

Everything is futile!”

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What does a man gain from all his labor,

at 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;

it hurries back to where it rises.

6 

The wind blows vvv southward,

then turns vvv northward;

round [and] round it swirls,

ever returning on [its] course.

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All the rivers flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full;

to the place from which the streams come,

there again they flow.

8 

All things are wearisome,

more than one can describe;

the eye is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ear content with hearing.

9 

What has been vvv will be again,

and what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun.

10 

Is there [a case] where one can say

“Look, this is new”?

It has already existed

in the ages before us.

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There is no remembrance

of those who came before

and those yet to come will not be remembered

by those who follow after.

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