Sermon: Welcome to College: It’s Nothing But Vanity (Sort Of)

Ecclesiastes 1:1–11

All Is Vanity

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

2   Vanity² of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3   What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
4   A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.
5   The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens³ to the place where it rises.
6   The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
  around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
7   All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
  to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
8   All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
  the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
9   What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
10   Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
  It has been already
    in the ages before us.
11   There is no remembrance of former things,⁴
    nor will there be any remembrance
  of later things⁵ yet to be
    among those who come after.