Translations
Modern
There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
Traditional
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.
Literal
There is no remembrance of the former things, and of the latter things that will come to be, there will be no remembrance of them with those who come to be after them.
Latin
Non est priorum memoria; sed nec eorum quidem quæ postea futura sunt erit recordatio apud eos qui futuri sunt in novissimo.
Original
Hebrew
English
There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.
Notes
There is no remembrance: We cannot rely on others to remember what we believe we have accomplished.
The Teacher starts by noting that every natural and historical activity has a repetitive cycle of coming and going, existing and not existing. This can cause some to feel that everything is meaningless. The Teacher quickly shifts from one topic to another and ends this section with the topic he began with, using a literary style that reflects the cycles he describes in nature and human history.