Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; 25 for apart from him[a] who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 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.[b]
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- Ecclesiastes 2:25 Gk Syr: Heb apart from me
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 Or a feeding on wind. See Hos 12.1
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26
New International Version
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink(A) and find satisfaction in their own toil.(B) This too, I see, is from the hand of God,(C) 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?(D) 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,(E) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth(F) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.(G) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
The God-Given Task
9 What gain have the workers from their toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. 11 He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 13 moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. 14 I know that whatever God does endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.[a]
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- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Heb what is pursued
Ecclesiastes 3:9-15
New International Version
9 What do workers gain from their toil?(A) 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.(B) 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.(C) He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom(D) what God has done from beginning to end.(E) 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink,(F) and find satisfaction(G) in all their toil—this is the gift of God.(H) 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.(I)
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 3:11 Or also placed ignorance in the human heart, so that
- Ecclesiastes 3:15 Or God calls back the past
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