Moff ECC Chapter 1

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1 Sayings of the Speaker, David’s son, king in Jerusalem.

Utterly vain, utterly vain

everything is vain!

Man labours at his toil under the sun;

does he gain?

The generations come and go

but there the earth is, there shall it remain.

The rising sun goes down, it hurries round

only to rise again.

From south to north the wind blows round,

the wind turns as it blows

turning and then returning on its track.

The streams all flow into the sea

but the sea they never fill

though the streams are flowing still.

All things are aweary

weary beyond words

the eye is never satisfied

the ear has never enough. 9 What has been is what shall be, what has gone on is what shall go on, and there is nothing xo new under the sun. 10 Men may say of something, “Ah, this is new!”--but it existed long ago before our time. 11 The men of that old time are now forgotten, as men to come shall be forgotten by the folk who follow them. 12 I the Speaker was king of Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I set myself to study and survey thoughtfully all that goes on under heaven--a sorry task this toil set to the sons of men by God!

I have seen all that goes on in this world; it is a vain, futile business.

You cannot straighten what is twisted,

nor can you count up the defects in life. 16 Said I to myself, “Now here have I gained far more wisdom than any before me in Jerusalem, my mind has such experience of wisdom and of knowledge; 17 I have applied myself to wisdom and knowledge as well as to mad folly, and I find it futile.

The more you know, the more you suffer:

the more you understand, the more you ache.”

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