(כא) הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ יי אֵלֶיךָ (ונשוב) וְנָשׁוּבָה חַדֵּשׁ יָמֵינוּ כְּקֶדֶם׃
(כב) כִּי אִם־מָאֹס מְאַסְתָּנוּ קָצַפְתָּ עָלֵינוּ עַד־מְאֹד׃
השיבנו יי אליך ונשובה חדש ימינו כקדם
(21) Take us back, Adonai, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old!
(22) For truly, You have rejected us,
Bitterly raged against us.
Take us back, Adonai, to Yourself,
And let us come back;
Renew our days as of old!
(א) דִּבְרֵי קֹהֶלֶת בֶּן־דָּוִד מֶלֶךְ בִּירוּשָׁלָם׃
(ב) הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים אָמַר קֹהֶלֶת הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים הַכֹּל הָבֶל׃
(ג) מַה־יִּתְרוֹן לָאָדָם בְּכׇל־עֲמָלוֹ שֶׁיַּעֲמֹל תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃
(ד) דּוֹר הֹלֵךְ וְדוֹר בָּא וְהָאָרֶץ לְעוֹלָם עֹמָדֶת׃
(ה) וְזָרַח הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ וּבָא הַשָּׁמֶשׁ וְאֶל־מְקוֹמוֹ שׁוֹאֵף זוֹרֵחַ הוּא שָׁם׃
(ו) הוֹלֵךְ אֶל־דָּרוֹם וְסוֹבֵב אֶל־צָפוֹן סוֹבֵב סֹבֵב הוֹלֵךְ הָרוּחַ וְעַל־סְבִיבֹתָיו שָׁב הָרוּחַ׃
(ז) כׇּל־הַנְּחָלִים הֹלְכִים אֶל־קַיָּם וְהַיָּם אֵינֶנּוּ מָלֵא אֶל־מְקוֹם שֶׁהַנְּחָלִים הֹֽלְכִים שָׁם הֵם שָׁבִים לָלָכֶת׃
(ח) כׇּל־הַדְּבָרִים יְגֵעִים לֹא־יוּכַל אִישׁ לְדַבֵּר לֹא־תִשְׂבַּע עַיִן לִרְאוֹת וְלֹא־תִמָּלֵא אֹזֶן מִשְּׁמֹעַ׃
(ט) מַה־שֶּׁהָיָה הוּא שֶׁיִּהְיֶה וּמַה־שֶּׁנַּֽעֲשָׂה הוּא שֶׁיֵּעָשֶׂה וְאֵין כׇּל־חָדָשׁ תַּחַת הַשָּׁמֶשׁ׃
(י) יֵשׁ דָּבָר שֶׁיֹּאמַר רְאֵה־זֶה חָדָשׁ הוּא כְּבָר הָיָה לְעֹלָמִים אֲשֶׁר הָיָה מִלְּפָנֵנוּ׃
(1) The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.
(2) Utter vapor!—said Koheleth—
Utter vapor! All is vapor!
(3) What real value is there for a man
In all the gains he makes beneath the sun?
(4) One generation goes, another comes,
But the earth remains the same forever.
(5) The sun rises, and the sun sets—
And glides back to where it rises.
(6) Southward blowing,
Turning northward,
Ever turning blows the wind;
On its rounds the wind returns.
(7) All streams flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is never full;
To the place [from] which they flow
The streams flow back again.
(8) All such things are wearisome:
No man can ever state them;
The eye never has enough of seeing,
Nor the ear enough of hearing.
(9) Only that shall happen
Which has happened,
Only that occur
Which has occurred;
There is nothing new
Beneath the sun!
(10) Sometimes there is a phenomenon of which they say, “Look, this one is new!”—it occurred long ago, in ages that went by before us.
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?