Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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Life is Useless
1 These are the words of the Philosopher,
David's son, who was
king in Jerusalem.
2 It is useless, useless, said the Philosopher.
Life is useless, all useless.
3 You spend your life working, laboring,
and what do you have to show
for it?
4 Generations come and generations
go, but the world stays just
the same. note
5 The sun still rises, and it
still goes down, going wearily back
to where it must start all over again.
6 The wind blows south, the wind
blows north—round and round and
back again.
7 Every river flows into
the sea, but the sea is not yet full.
The water returns to where the rivers
began, and starts all over again.
8 Everything leads to weariness—a
weariness too great for words. Our
eyes can never see enough to be satisfied;
our ears can never hear
enough.
9 What has happened before
will happen again. What has been
done before will be done again.
There is nothing new in the whole
world.
10 “Look,” they say, “here is
something new!” But no, it has all
happened before, long before we
were born.
11 No one remembers
what has happened in the past, and
no one in days to come will remember
what happens between now and
then.
The Philosopher's Experience
12 I, the Philosopher, have been
king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 I determined
that I would examine and
study all the things that are done in
this world.
13 God has laid a miserable fate upon
us.
14 I have seen everything done in
this world, and I tell you, it is all useless.
It is like chasing the wind.
15 You can't straighten out what is
crooked; you can't count things that
aren't there.
-- --
16 I told myself, “I have become a
great man, far wiser than anyone
who ruled Jerusalem before me. I
know what wisdom and knowledge
really are.” note
17 I was determined to
learn the difference between knowledge
and foolishness, wisdom and
madness. But I found out that I
might as well be chasing the wind.
18 The wiser you are, the more worries
you have; the more you know,
the more it hurts.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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