Ecclesiastes 1:10-16

¹⁰There is a thing of which one saith: 'See this, it is new!' already it hath been in the ages that were before us!

¹¹There is not a remembrance of former generations; and also of the latter that are, there is no remembrance of them with those that are at the last.

¹²I, a preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

¹³And I have given my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that hath been done under the heavens. It is a sad travail God hath given to the sons of man to be humbled by it.

¹⁴I have seen all the works that have been done under the sun, and lo, the whole is vanity and vexation of spirit!

¹⁵A crooked thing one is not able to make straight, and a lacking thing is not able to be numbered.

¹⁶I — I spake with my heart, saying, 'I, lo, I have magnified and added wisdom above every one who hath been before me at Jerusalem, and my heart hath seen abundantly wisdom and knowledge.