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Exact Match

All floods run into the sea, and yet the sea is not filled: for look, unto what place the waters run, thence they come again.

There is a thing [of] which it is said, "Look at this! This is new!" [But] it already existed in ages past before us.

{I said to myself}, "Look! I have become great and have increased [in] wisdom more than anyone who {has preceded} me over Jerusalem. {I have acquired a great deal of wisdom and knowledge}."

So I dedicated myself to learn about wisdom and knowledge, and about insanity and foolishness. And I discovered that this is also like chasing after the wind.

I said in my heart, 'Pray, come, I try thee with mirth, and look thou on gladness;' and lo, even it is vanity.

And look whatsoever mine eyes desired, I let them have it: and wherein soever my heart delighted, or had any pleasure, I withheld it not from it. Thus my heart rejoiced in all that I did, and this I took for the portion of all my travail.

Then I examined all of my accomplishments that I had brought about by my own efforts, including the work that I had labored so hard to complete and it was all pointless, like chasing after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained on earth.

Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done.

And I saw that there is an advantage to wisdom above folly, like the advantage of the light above the darkness.

For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

So I hated life, because whatever is done on earth causes me trouble it's all pointless, like chasing after the wind.

For to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing wealth -- only to give it to the one who pleases God. This task of the wicked is futile -- like chasing the wind!

I said to myself regarding the sons of men, “God is surely testing them in order for them to see that [by themselves, without God] they are [only] animals.”

For the fate of {humans} and the fate of the beast is {the same}. The death of the one is like the death of the other, for {both are mortal}. Man has no advantage over the beast, for both are fleeting.

And I have seen that there is nothing better than that man rejoice in his works, for it is his portion; for who doth bring him in to look on that which is after him?

Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them.

Then I considered all the skillful work that is done: Surely it is nothing more than competition between one person and another. This also is profitless -- like chasing the wind.

There is no end to all the people nor to the past generations, yet future generations will not rejoice in him. This also is profitless and like chasing the wind.

Be careful what you do when you go to the temple of God; draw near to listen rather than to offer a sacrifice like fools, for they do not realize that they are doing wrong.

And why? Whereas are many dreams and many words, there are also divers vanities: but look that thou fear God.

When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them?

Then that wealth was lost through bad luck; although he fathered a son, he has nothing left to give him.

Like as he came naked out of his mother's womb, so goeth he thither again, and carryeth nothing away with him of all his labour.

Look! I have discovered what is good and fitting: to eat and to drink and {to enjoy} all [the fruit of] the toil with which one toils under the sun during the number of the days of his life that God gives to him--for this [is] his lot.

A man to whom God giveth wealth, and riches, and honour, and there is no lack to his soul of all that he desireth, and God giveth him not power to eat of it, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

It is better to be content with what the eyes can see than for one's heart always to crave more. This continual longing is futile -- like chasing the wind.

Because many words lead to pointlessness, how do people benefit from this? 12Who knows what is best for people in this life, every day of their pointless lives that they pass through like a shadow? Who informs people on earth what will come along after them?

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?


For like the crackling of [burning] thorn bushes under a pot,
So is the laughter of the fool;
And this too is vanity (futility).

Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing; it benefits those who see the light of day.

I discovered this: More bitter than death is the kind of woman who is like a hunter's snare; her heart is like a hunter's net and her hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is captured by her.

"Look! I found this," said the Teacher, "while trying to find how the plan fits together.

Look! This alone I found: God made mankind upright, but they have devised many schemes."

Who is like the wise man?
And who knows the interpretation of a matter?
A man’s wisdom illumines his face,
And causes his stern face to beam.

Like as when a king giveth a charge, his commandment is mighty: Even so whom may say unto him, "What doest thou?"

But it will not be well for the evil man, nor will he lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not fear God.

Every one, was like every one else, one destiny, had the righteous and the lawless, the good and the pure and the impure, and he that sacrificed, and he that did not sacrifice, - as the good man, so, the sinner, he that took an oath, as he who, of an oath, stood in fear.

Look on life with the wife whom you love all the days of the life of your vanity, which He has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity. For that is your share in this life, and in your labor which you labor under the sun.

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are taken with the snare, like them are the children of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error which proceeds from the ruler—

I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth.

By two lazy arms, the framework sinketh in, - and, by the hanging down of the hands, the house may leak.

Now, like as thou knowest not the way of the wind, nor how the bones are filled in a mother's womb: Even so thou knowest not the works of God, which is the workmaster of all.

The light is sweet, and a pleasant thing is it for the eyes to look upon the Sun.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

The words of the wise are like [prodding] goads, and these collected sayings are [firmly fixed in the mind] like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.