What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?
What gain has the worker from his toil?
This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?
What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity.
Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.
Wisdom is good with an inheritance, an advantage to those who see the sun.
For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?
Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment 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 lot.
But better than both is he who has not yet been and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.
“What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
Again, I saw vanity under the sun:
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