⁵ Why should I fear when evil days come,
    when wicked deceivers surround me—
⁶ those who trust in their wealth
    and boast of their great riches?
⁷ No one can redeem the life of another
    or give to God a ransom for them—
⁸ the ransom for a life is costly,
    no payment is ever enough—
⁹ so that they should live on forever
    and not see decay.
¹⁰ For all can see that the wise die,
    that the foolish and the senseless also perish,
    leaving their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their tombs will remain their houses^[b] forever,
    their dwellings for endless generations,
    though they had^[c] named lands after themselves.

¹² People, despite their wealth, do not endure;
    they are like the beasts that perish.

² “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

³ What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?
⁴ Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises and the sun sets,
    and hurries back to where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
    and turns to the north;
round and round it goes,
    ever returning on its course.
⁷ All streams flow into the sea,
    yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from,
    there they return again.
⁸ All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
⁹ What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.
¹⁰ Is there anything of which one can say,
    “Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
    it was here before our time.
¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.