1:1 达味之子耶路撒冷的君王「训道者」的语录：
The words of David’s son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem: 1:2 虚而又虚，训道者说：虚而又虚，万事皆虚。
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity! 1:3 人在太阳下辛勤劳作，为人究有何益﹖
What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? 1:4 一代过去，一代又来，大地仍常存在。
One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays. 1:5 太阳升起，太阳落下，匆匆赶回原处，从新再升。
The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises. 1:6 风吹向南，又转向北，旋转不息，循环运行。
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds. 1:7 江河流入大海，大海总不满溢；江河仍向所往之处，川流不息。
All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going. 1:8 万事皆辛劳，无人能尽言：眼看，看不够；耳听，听不饱。
All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing. 1:9 往昔所有，将会再有；昔日所行，将会再行；太阳之下决无新事。
What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun. 1:10 若有人指一事说：「看，这是新事。」殊不知在我们以前早就有过。
Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us. 1:11 只是对往者，没有人去追忆；同样，对来者，也不会为后辈所记念。
There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them. 1:12 我训道者，曾在耶路撒冷作过以色列的君王。
I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, 1:13 曾专心用智慧考察研究过天下所发生的一切；──这实是天主赐与人类的一项艰辛的工作。
and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about. 1:14 我观察了在太阳下所发生的一切：看，都是空虚，都是追风。
I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind. 1:15 弯曲的，不能使之正直，亏缺的，实在不可胜数。
What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied. 1:16 我心自谓：「看，我获得又大又多的智慧，胜过所有在我以前住在耶路撒冷的人；我心获识许多智慧和学问。」
Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge"; 1:17 我再专心研究智慧和学问，愚昧和狂妄，我才发觉：连这项工作也是追风。
yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind. 1:18 因为，智慧愈多，烦恼愈多；学问越广，忧虑越深。
For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.