Ecclesiastes 1:8-17

⁸Everything just keeps on going. You can't say all there is to say. You can't see all there is to see. You can't hear all there is to hear.

⁹Everything that was will continue to be; everything that has been done will be done again. Nothing new ever happens here.

¹⁰There's nothing anyone can point to and say, “Look! Here's something new.” In fact it's been around for ages, long before our time.

¹¹The problem is we don't remember people from the past, and people in the future won't remember those who came before them.

¹²I am the Teacher, and I was king over Israel, reigning from Jerusalem.

¹³I decided to focus my mind to explore, using wisdom, everything that happens here on earth. This is a tough assignment that God has given people to keep them busy!

¹⁴I examined everything people do here on earth, and discovered that it's all so temporary—trying to understand it is like trying to pin down the wind!

¹⁵You can't straighten what is twisted, and you can't count what isn't there.

¹⁶I thought to myself, “I've become very wise, wiser than all the kings of Jerusalem before me. My mind has gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.”

¹⁷So I decided to use my mind to learn everything about wisdom, and madness and foolishness as well. But I found out that this is as hard as trying to catch hold of the wind.