¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.  

2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

(see Psalm 144:3-4, Psalm 39:5-6, 11, Proverbs 31:30, James 4:14)

3What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?  4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns.  7All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again.  8All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.”       

11No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

14He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might….15free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.