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New American Standard Bible |   | |
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| | Ecc 1:1 | The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
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| | Ecc 1:2 | "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
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| | Ecc 1:3 | What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun?
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| | Ecc 1:4 | A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever.
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| | Ecc 1:5 | Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again.
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| | Ecc 1:6 | Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns.
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| | Ecc 1:7 | All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again.
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| | Ecc 1:8 | All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
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| | Ecc 1:9 | That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun.
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| | Ecc 1:10 | Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.
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| | Ecc 1:11 | There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still.
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| | Ecc 1:12 | I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.
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| | Ecc 1:13 | And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
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| | Ecc 1:14 | I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.
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| | Ecc 1:15 | What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted.
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| | Ecc 1:16 | I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge."
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| | Ecc 1:17 | And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind.
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| | Ecc 1:18 | Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.
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| Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. |
