Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

English Standard Version

²⁴^(A)There is nothing better for a person than that he should ^(B)eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in his toil. This also, I saw, is ^(C)from the hand of God, ²⁵for apart from him^[b] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? ²⁶For to the one who pleases him ^(D)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given ^(E)the business of gathering and collecting, ^(F)only to give to one who pleases God. ^(G)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 2:24 Or and make his soul see good
Ecclesiastes 2:25 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts apart from me

Ecclesiastes 4:4-8

English Standard Version

⁴Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is ^(A)vanity^[a] and a striving after wind.

⁵The fool ^(B)folds his hands and ^(C)eats his own flesh.

⁶^(D)Better is a handful of ^(E)quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.

⁷^(F)Again, I saw vanity under the sun: ⁸one person who has no other, either son or brother, yet there is no end to all his toil, and his ^(G)eyes are never satisfied with riches, so that he never asks, ^(H)“For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of pleasure?” This also is vanity and an unhappy ^(I)business.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 4:4 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 7, 8, 16 (see note on 1:2)

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

English Standard Version

¹⁸Behold, what I have seen to be ^(A)good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment^[a] in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his ^(B)lot. ¹⁹Everyone also to whom ^(C)God has given ^(D)wealth and possessions ^(E)and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is ^(F)the gift of God. ²⁰For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or and see good

Ecclesiastes 7:11-14

English Standard Version

¹¹Wisdom is good with an inheritance,
    an advantage to those who ^(A)see the sun.
¹²For the protection of wisdom is like ^(B)the protection of money,
    and the advantage of knowledge is that ^(C)wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
¹³Consider ^(D)the work of God:
    ^(E)who can make straight what he has made crooked?

¹⁴^(F)In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^(G)so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

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Ecclesiastes 10:18-20

English Standard Version

¹⁸Through sloth the roof sinks in,
    and through indolence the house leaks.
¹⁹Bread is made for laughter,
    and ^(A)wine gladdens life,
    and ^(B)money answers everything.
²⁰Even in your thoughts, ^(C)do not curse the king,
    nor in your ^(D)bedroom curse the rich,
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
    or some winged creature tell the matter.

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Ecclesiastes 11:1-6

English Standard Version

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters

11 ^(A)Cast your bread upon the waters,
    ^(B)for you will find it after many days.
²^(C)Give a portion to ^(D)seven, or even to eight,
    ^(E)for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
³If the clouds are full of rain,
    they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
    in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
⁴He who observes the wind will not sow,
    and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

⁵As you do not know the way ^(F)the spirit comes to ^(G)the bones in the womb^[a] of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

⁶In the morning sow your seed, and at evening ^(H)withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

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Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 11:5 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts As you do not know the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb