Ecclesiastes 1:15-17
EasyEnglish Bible
15 If someone has bent something,
you cannot always make it straight again.
You cannot count things,
if they are not there.[a]
16 I said to myself, ‘Listen! I have become very wise! I am much wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I know a lot more things than they ever did!’ 17 So I decided to study how much wisdom and knowledge really help a person. I wanted to learn if it was better than someone who only does foolish things. But this was also useless, like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1:15 These were probably proverbs. There are things that you cannot change. There are things that you cannot even describe.
Ecclesiastes 1:15-17
New International Version
15 What is crooked cannot be straightened;(A)
what is lacking cannot be counted.
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;(B) I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,(C) and also of madness and folly,(D) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
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