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14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.(A)

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14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.(A)

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11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;(A)
    nothing was gained under the sun.(B)

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26 For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.(A)

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26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,(A) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth(B) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.(C) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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17 So I hated life because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.(A)

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Toil Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.(A)

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Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(A)

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Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person’s envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.(A)

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And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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17 And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.(A)

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation,
and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow.(B)

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17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,(A) and also of madness and folly,(B) but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;(C)
    the more knowledge, the more grief.(D)

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You have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah(A)
    Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
    they heap up and do not know who will gather.(B)

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You have made my days(A) a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,(B)
    even those who seem secure.[a]

“Surely everyone goes around(C) like a mere phantom;(D)
    in vain they rush about,(E) heaping up wealth(F)
    without knowing whose it will finally be.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 39:5 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verse 11.

30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.(A) 31 He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.(B) 32 He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.(C)

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30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East,(A) and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.(B) 31 He was wiser(C) than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs(D) and his songs(E) numbered a thousand and five.

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