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The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 1 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:1 - These are the words of the Teacher,[fn] King David’s son, who ruled in Jerusalem.
Everything Is Meaningless

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:2 - “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:3 - What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:4 - Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:5 - The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:6 - The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:7 - Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:8 - Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:9 - History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:10 - Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:11 - We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.
The Teacher Speaks: The Futility of Wisdom

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:12 - I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:13 - I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:14 - I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:15 - What is wrong cannot be made right.
What is missing cannot be recovered.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:16 - I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:17 - So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 1:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 1:18 - The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.
To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew Qoheleth; this term is rendered “the Teacher” throughout this book.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras