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Ecclesiastes 1:1-4
English Standard Version

All Is Vanity

1 The words of (A)the Preacher,[a] the son of David, (B)king in Jerusalem.

2 (C)Vanity[b] of vanities, says (D)the Preacher,
    (E)vanity of vanities! (F)All is vanity.
3 (G)What (H)does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but (I)the earth remains forever.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:1 Or Convener, or Collector; Hebrew Qoheleth (so throughout Ecclesiastes)
  2. Ecclesiastes 1:2 The Hebrew term hebel, translated vanity or vain, refers concretely to a “mist,” “vapor,” or “mere breath,” and metaphorically to something that is fleeting or elusive (with different nuances depending on the context). It appears five times in this verse and in 29 other verses in Ecclesiastes
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Ecclesiastes 1:1-4
New King James Version

The Vanity of Life

1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, (A)king in Jerusalem.

2 “Vanity(B)[a] of vanities,” says the Preacher;
“Vanity of vanities, (C)all is vanity.”

3 (D)What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he [b]toils under the sun?
4 One generation passes away, and another generation comes;
(E)But the earth abides forever.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 1:2 Or Absurdity, Frustration, Futility, Nonsense; and so throughout the book
  2. Ecclesiastes 1:3 labors
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Proverbs 31
Ecclesiastes 2
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English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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