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Everything is Futile

(Job 11:1-20)

¹ The words of the Teacher^(a), the son of David, king in Jerusalem:² “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”³ What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?

⁴ Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries back to where it arose.⁶ Blowing southward, then turning northward, round and round the wind swirls, ever returning on its course.⁷ All the rivers flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full; to the place from which the streams come, there again they flow.⁸ All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.

⁹ What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.¹⁰ Is there a case where one can say, “Look, this is new”? It has already existed in the ages before us.¹¹ There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.

With Wisdom Comes Sorrow

¹² I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.¹³ And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on the sons of men, to keep them occupied!¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.¹⁵ What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.¹⁶ I said to myself, “Behold, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all those before me who were over Jerusalem, and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.”¹⁷ So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.¹⁸ For with much wisdom comes much sorrow, and as knowledge grows, grief increases.