Ecclesiastes 1:2

New Century Version

The Teacher says, “Useless! Useless! Completely useless! Everything is useless.”

Cross References

Job 11:12

A fool cannot become wise any more than a wild donkey can be born tame.

Psalm 144:4

People are like a breath; their lives are like passing shadows.

Psalm 89:47

Remember how short my life is. Why did you create us? For nothing?

Ecclesiastes 11:10

Don’t worry, and forget the troubles of your body, because youth and childhood are useless.

Ecclesiastes 11:8

People ought to enjoy every day of their lives, no matter how long they live. But they should also remember this: You will be dead a long time. Everything that happens then is useless.

Ecclesiastes 12:8

Everything is useless! The Teacher says that everything is useless.

Ecclesiastes 2:11

But then I looked at what I had done, and I thought about all the hard work. Suddenly I realized it was useless, like chasing the wind. There is nothing to gain from anything we do here on earth.

Ecclesiastes 2:15

I thought to myself, “What happens to a fool will happen to me, too, so what is the reward for being wise?” I said to myself, “Being wise is also useless.”

Ecclesiastes 2:17

So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless, like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

Someone else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on earth, and I don’t know if he will be wise or foolish. This is also useless.

Ecclesiastes 2:21

People can work hard using all their wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but they will die, and other people will get the things for which they worked. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

All of their lives their work is full of pain and sorrow, and even at night their minds don’t rest. This is also useless.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

If people please God, God will give them wisdom, knowledge, and joy. But sinners will get only the work of gathering and storing wealth that they will have to give to the ones who please God. So all their work is useless, like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:8

I also gathered silver and gold for myself, treasures from kings and other areas. I had male and female singers and all the women a man could ever want.

Ecclesiastes 3:19

The same thing happens to animals and to people; they both have the same breath, so they both die. People are no better off than the animals, because everything is useless.

Ecclesiastes 4:16

Many followed him at first, but later, they did not like him, either. So fame and power are useless, like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

I realized the reason people work hard and try to succeed: They are jealous of each other. This, too, is useless, like chasing the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

I saw a man who had no family, no son or brother. He always worked hard but was never satisfied with what he had. He never asked himself, “For whom am I working so hard? Why don’t I let myself enjoy life?” This also is very sad and useless.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Whoever loves money will never have enough money; Whoever loves wealth will not be satisfied with it. This is also useless.

Ecclesiastes 6:11

The more you say, the more useless it is. What good does it do?

Romans 8:20

Everything God made was changed to become useless, not by its own wish but because God wanted it and because all along there was this hope: