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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><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" 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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">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Nothing Makes Sense</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_1_1"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.1" class="v21_1_1">1</span>When the son of David was king in Jerusalem, he was known to be very wise,<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and he said:</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_2"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.2" class="v21_1_2">2</span>Nothing makes sense!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_2">Everything is nonsense.</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_2">I have seen it all—</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_2">nothing makes sense!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_3"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.3" class="v21_1_3">3</span>What is there to show</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_3">for all of our hard work</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_3">here on this earth?</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_4"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.4" class="v21_1_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> People come, and people go,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_4">but still the world</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_4">never changes.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_5"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.5" class="v21_1_5">5</span>The sun comes up,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_5">the sun goes down;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_5">it hurries right back</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_5">to where it started from.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_6"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.6" class="v21_1_6">6</span>The wind blows south,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_6">the wind blows north;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_6">round and round it blows</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_6">over and over again.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_7"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.7" class="v21_1_7">7</span>All rivers empty into the sea,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_7">but it never spills over;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_7">one by one the rivers return</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_7">to their source.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_8"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.8" class="v21_1_8">8</span>All of life is far more boring</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_8">than words could ever say.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_8">Our eyes and our ears</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_8">are never satisfied</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_8">with what we see and hear.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_9"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.9" class="v21_1_9">9</span>Everything that happens</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_9">has happened before;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_9">nothing is new,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_9">nothing under the sun.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_10"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.10" class="v21_1_10">10</span>Someone might say,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_10">“Here is something new!”</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_10">But it happened before,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_10">long before we were born.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_11"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.11" class="v21_1_11">11</span>No one who lived in the past</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_11">is remembered anymore,</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_11">and everyone yet to be born</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_11">will be forgotten too.</span></p><h3 class="s1">It Is Senseless To Be Wise</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_1_12"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.12" class="v21_1_12">12</span>I said these things when I lived in Jerusalem as king of Israel. </span><span class="v21_1_13"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.13" class="v21_1_13">13</span>With all my wisdom I tried to understand everything that happens here on earth. And God has made this so hard for us humans to do. </span><span class="v21_1_14"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.14" class="v21_1_14">14</span>I have seen it all, and everything is just as senseless as chasing the wind.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.14!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_15"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.15" class="v21_1_15">15</span>If something is crooked,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_15">it can't be made straight;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_15">if something isn't there,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_15">it can't be counted.</span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_1_16"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.16" class="v21_1_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> I said to myself, “You are by far the wisest person who has ever lived in Jerusalem. You are eager to learn, and you have learned a lot.” </span><span class="v21_1_17"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.17" class="v21_1_17">17</span>Then I decided to find out all I could about wisdom and foolishness. Soon I realized that this too was as senseless as chasing the wind.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.1.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="b"></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_18"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.1.18" class="v21_1_18">18</span>The more you know,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_18">the more you hurt;</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v21_1_18">the more you understand,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v21_1_18">the more you suffer.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">known to be very wise: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">This stands for the Hebrew word often translated “preacher” or “teacher.” The word may refer to someone who was a very wise leader or to someone who had become wise from collecting sayings about wisdom.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.7 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">return to their source: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “flow into the sea.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.14 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">chasing the wind: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “eating the wind.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">1.17 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">chasing the wind: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.14.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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