² Vanity^[b] of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
³ What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
and hastens^[c] to the place where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷ All streams run to the sea,
but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
there they flow again.
⁸ All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
¹¹ There is no remembrance of former things,^[d]
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things^[e] yet to be
among those who come after.