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13 I applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to humans to be busy with.(A)

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10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with.(A)

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19 By the sweat of your face
    you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”(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)

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16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, how one’s eyes see sleep neither day nor night, 17 then I saw all the work of God, that no one can find out what is happening under the sun. However much they may toil in seeking, they will not find it out; even though those who are wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.(A)

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25 I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.(A)

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15 Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.

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12 Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

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All this I observed, applying my mind to all that is done under the sun, while one person exercises authority over another to the other’s hurt.(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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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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23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.(A)

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26 My child, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe[a] my ways.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 23.26 Or delight in

15 An intelligent mind acquires knowledge,
    and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

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18 The one who lives alone is self-indulgent,
    showing contempt for all sound judgment.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 18.1 Meaning of Heb uncertain

The beginning of wisdom is this: get wisdom,
    and whatever else you get, get insight.(A)

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making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding,
if you indeed cry out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures—(A)

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Great are the works of the Lord,
    studied by all who delight in them.

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