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Ecclesiastes 1:2
New Living Translation
Ecclesiastes 1:2
New Living Translation
Everything Is Meaningless
2 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”
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Ecclesiastes 1:2
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 1:2
New International Version
2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.”(A)
Ecclesiastes 2:21-26
New Living Translation
Ecclesiastes 2:21-26
New Living Translation
21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. 22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?[a] 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
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- 2:25 As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads apart from me?
Ecclesiastes 2:21-26
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 2:21-26
New International Version
21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?(A) 23 All their days their work is grief and pain;(B) even at night their minds do not rest.(C) This too is meaningless.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink(D) and find satisfaction in their own toil.(E) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,(F) 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?(G) 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,(H) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth(I) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.(J) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.