Ecclesiastes 1:12-18
Read this passage and open each verse for the full verse feed and commentary tools.
12I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled. 14I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is futility and striving after wind. 15What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
16I said to myself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know insanity and foolishness; I realized that this also is striving after wind. 18Because in much wisdom there is much grief; and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.