Gusting to the south,
turning to the north,
turning, turning, goes the wind,
and the wind returns in its cycles.

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to a man’s jealousy of his friend. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Better one handful with rest
than two handfuls with effort and a pursuit of the wind.

There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain who struggles for the wind?

Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.

One who watches the wind will not sow,
and the one who looks at the clouds will not reap.

Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,
or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,
so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.