1 The words of Ecclesiastes, the son of David, the king of Jerusalem.
2 Ecclesiastes said: Vanity of vanities! Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!
3 What more does a man have from all his labor, as he labors under the sun?
4 A generation passes away, and a generation arrives. But the earth stands forever.
5 The sun rises and sets; it returns to its place, and from there, being born again,
6 it circles through the south, and arcs toward the north. The spirit continues on, illuminating everything in its circuit, and turning again in its cycle.
7 All rivers enter into the sea, and the sea does not overflow. To the place from which the rivers go out, they return, so that they may flow again.