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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Ecclesiastes 1 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/1.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ecclesiastes/1-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Ecclesiastes 1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../proverbs/31.htm" title="Proverbs 31">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 1 <a href="../ecclesiastes/2.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/ecclesiastes/1.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Everything Is Meaningless</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>The words of the Teacher, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or the leader of the assembly; also in verses 2 and 12">a</a></sup></span> son of David, king in Jerusalem:</p> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Meaningless! Meaningless!”</p><p class="line2">says the Teacher.</p><p class="line1">“Utterly meaningless!</p><p class="line2">Everything is meaningless.”</p></div> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>What do people gain from all their labors</p><p class="line2">at which they toil under the sun?</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Generations come and generations go,</p><p class="line2">but the earth remains forever.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The sun rises and the sun sets,</p><p class="line2">and hurries back to where it rises.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>The wind blows to the south</p><p class="line2">and turns to the north;</p><p class="line1">round and round it goes,</p><p class="line2">ever returning on its course.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>All streams flow into the sea,</p><p class="line2">yet the sea is never full.</p><p class="line1">To the place the streams come from,</p><p class="line2">there they return again.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>All things are wearisome,</p><p class="line2">more than one can say.</p><p class="line1">The eye never has enough of seeing,</p><p class="line2">nor the ear its fill of hearing.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>What has been will be again,</p><p class="line2">what has been done will be done again;</p><p class="line2">there is nothing new under the sun.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Is there anything of which one can say,</p><p class="line2">“Look! This is something new”?</p><p class="line1">It was here already, long ago;</p><p class="line2">it was here before our time.</p> <p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>No one remembers the former generations,</p><p class="line2">and even those yet to come</p><p class="line1">will not be remembered</p><p class="line2">by those who follow them.</p></div> <p class="sectionhead">Wisdom Is Meaningless</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.</p> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>What is crooked cannot be straightened;</p><p class="line2">what is lacking cannot be counted.</p></div> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>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.</p> <div class="stanza"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/ecclesiastes/1-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;</p><p class="line2">the more knowledge, the more grief.</p></div><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">1</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>the leader of the assembly</i>; also in verses 2 and 12</span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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