12. I, the Teacher, was king of Israel, and I lived in Jerusalem.
13. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done under heaven. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race.
14. I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.
15. What is wrong cannot be made right.What is missing cannot be recovered.
16. I said to myself, “Look, I am wiser than any of the kings who ruled in Jerusalem before me. I have greater wisdom and knowledge than any of them.”
17. So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.
18. The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief.To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.