Ecclesiastes 1:13-18

13I decided to study everything that happens on the earth. I used wisdom to try to understand these things. I realized that God has given people hard work to do, which causes them to suffer.

14I thought about all the things that people do on the earth. I realized that all these things have no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.

15If someone has bent something, you cannot always make it straight again. You cannot count things, if they are not there.

16I said to myself, ‘Listen! I have become very wise! I am much wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I know a lot more things than they ever did!’

17So I decided to study how much wisdom and knowledge really help a person. I wanted to learn if it was better than someone who only does foolish things. But this was also useless, like somebody who tries to catch the wind.

18The more wisdom you have, the more you will worry. The more you learn, the more you suffer.