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2 “Totally pointless,” says the leader.
“A complete waste of time. Everything’s worthless.”
3 What profit does humanity gain from all their hard work in this world?
4 Generations come, and generations go,
but the world just carries on going.
5 The sun rises and the sun sets,
then rushes around to its place, rising there again.
6 Going to the south then around to the north,
the wind is going, changing, turning,
then it’s returning on its rounds.
7 All the rivers flow into the sea but it never gets full.
The place that the rivers are going to, they end up going there again.
8 Everything is wearisome—not even worth talking about.
The eyes never stop seeing,
and your ears never fill up with everything they hear.
9 Whatever that was in the past, it will be in the future,
and everything that’s happened before, will happen again.
There’s nothing new in this world.
10 If someone says, “Look at this—it’s new,”
well, it was already done long ago before we even got here.
11 Things that happened in the past get forgotten,
and the same will also happen for future events.
People in the future will be exactly the same.
12 I, the leader, was king over Yisrael in Yerushalem.
13 I used my mind and wisdom to discover and to explore everything that is done in this world.
It’s a difficult job that God has given humanity to be busy with.
14 I saw all the deeds that are done in this world,
and look—everything’s pointless like chasing after the wind.
15 Something that’s bent can’t be straightened again,
≈and what’s missing can’t be counted.
16 I spoke with sincerity, saying, “Look at me—I’ve become powerful,
and I’ve increased in wisdom relative to everyone who ruled before me here in Yerushalem.[ref]
My mind has acquired much knowledge and wisdom.”
17 I made it my aim to discover knowledge and wisdom versus madness and folly.
I was aware that that also is chasing after the wind
18 because having much wisdom leads to much frustration
1:1 We don’t have enough information to fully understand the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘קֹהֶ֣לֶת’ (Kohelet), but it probably means something like ‘leader/speaker of the assembly’, so we use ‘the leader’ throughout this document.