Kohelet 1

¹Divrei Kohelet, Ben Dovid, Melech in Yerushalayim.

²Hevel havalim, saith Kohelet,

hevel havalim, all is hevel.

³What profit hath a man from all his amal (toil)

which he hath toiled under the shemesh?

⁴Dor v'dor, generations come and go, passing away;

but ha'aretz remaineth l'olam.

⁵The shemesh also ariseth, and the shemesh goeth down,

and hasteth to its place, there to arise again.

⁶The ruach (wind) goeth toward the darom (south) ,

and turneth about unto the tzafon (north) ;

it whirleth about continually,

and the ruach returneth again according to its circuits.

⁷All the nechalim (rivers) run into the yam;

yet the yam is not full;

unto the place from whence the nechalim come,

thither they return to go again.

⁸All things are wearisome;

no ish can express it;

the ayin is not satisfied with seeing,

nor the ozen full with hearing.

⁹The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;

and that which is done is that which shall be done;

and there is nothing chadash under the shemesh.

¹⁰Is there anything whereof it may be said:

See, this is chadash?

L'olamim (ages ago) , which were before us,

it hath been already.

¹¹There is no zichron (remembrance) of former things;

neither shall there be

with those who come after any zikaron (recollection)

of things that are to come.

¹²I, Kohelet, was Melech over Yisroel in Yerushalayim.

¹³And I set my lev to seek and search out by chochmah concerning all things that are done under Shomayim; what grievous task hath Elohim given to the bnei haAdam to be afflicted therewith.

¹⁴I have seen all the ma'asim that are done under the shemesh; and, hinei, all is hevel and chasing after ruach (wind) .

¹⁵That which is crooked cannot be made straight;

and chesron (that which is lacking) cannot be numbered.

¹⁶I communed with mine own lev, saying: Hinei, I am come to greatness, even greater chochmah than all they that have been before me over Yerushalayim; yea, my lev had great experience of chochmah and da'as.

¹⁷And I applied my lev to have da'as of chochmah, and to have da'as of holelot (madness) and sichlut (folly) ; I perceived that this also is striving after ruach (wind) .

¹⁸For in much chochmah (wisdom) is much ka'as (grief, vexation) ;

and he that increaseth da'as increaseth mach'ov (sorrow) .