Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Then thought I in my mind, "If it happeneth unto the fool as it doth unto me, what needeth me then to labour any more for wisdom?" So I confessed within my heart, that this also was but vanity.

Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

All his days [are] painful, his labor [brings] grief, and his heart cannot rest at night. This also [is] vanity!

There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

For God gives wisdom, and knowledge, and joy to a man who is good in His sight. But to the sinner He gives labor, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

What else hath a man that doth anything, but weariness and labour?

I have seen the task which God has given to the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

So I concluded that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy [the fruit of] his labor, for this is his lot in life. {For no one knows what will happen in the future.}

Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind.

There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.

For the dream came in the multitude of labor; and the voice of the foolish one in the multitude of words.

But those riches perish by evil labor: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

And also this an evil making sick, wholly as he came so shall he go: and what to him he shall labor for the wind?

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.

God gives a man riches, property, and wealth so that he lacks nothing that his heart desires, yet God does not enable him to enjoy the fruit of his labor -- instead, someone else enjoys it! This is fruitless and a grave misfortune.

All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

According as I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the labor that was done upon the earth: for also in the day and in the night he saw not sleep with his eyes.

Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.

The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city.

Who [is] this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother {conceived you}; there she who was in labor gave birth to you.

Offer me no more oblations, for it is but lost labour. I abhor your incense. I may not away with your new moons, your Sabbaths and solemn days. Your fastings are also in vain.

Wo to those decreeing not decrees, and they wrote writings of labor;

and they will be dismayed. Pangs and labor pains will seize [them]; they will tremble like a woman giving birth. {They will stare at one another}, {their faces flushing}.

Many nations will take them and bring them to their land and their own place. The house of Israel will put those nations to conscripted labor in the LORD's land. They will take captive those who were their captors, and will rule continually over those who oppressed them.

And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which {you had to perform},

Such as labour upon flax and silk, shall come to poverty, and they also that weave fine works.

Therefore I am filled with anguish.
Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.
I am too perplexed to hear,
too dismayed to see.

Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

Be ashamed, Sidon, for [the] sea, the fortress of the sea said, saying, "I was not in labor, and I have not given birth, and I have not reared young men, brought up young women.

Like pregnant woman on the point of giving birth, she writhes; she cries in her labor pains. So we were because of your presence, Yahweh.

We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

such as labour to draw men unto sin; and that deceive him which reproveth them in the gate; and such as turn good persons to vanity.

Then the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of man will devour him.
And he will flee from the sword [of God],
And his young men will become forced labor.

"Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her, that her compulsory labor is fulfilled, that her sin is paid for, that she has {received} from the hand of Yahweh double for all her sins."

“I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained Myself.
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,
gasping breathlessly.

But it is a mischevious and wicked people. Their young men belong all to the snare, and shall be shut into prison houses. They shall be carried away captive, and no man shall loose them. They shall be trodden under foot, and no man shall labour to bring them again.

Woe [to the] one who says to a father, 'What you are begetting?' or to a woman, '[With] what are you in labor?'"

Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries in which thou didst labor from thy youth; perhaps thou wilt be able to be of use, perhaps thou wilt cause fear.

Thus shall they be to thee for whom thou didst labor, thy merchants, from thy youth; they wandered a man to his other side; none saving thee.

And I said, "I labour in vain and spend my strength for nought, and unprofitably. Howbeit, my cause I commit to the LORD and my travail unto my God."

Of the labour of his soul he seeth -- he is satisfied, Through his knowledge give righteousness Doth the righteous one, My servant, to many, And their iniquities he doth bear.

"Sing for joy, barren [woman]; [who] has not borne! Burst forth [into] rejoicing and rejoice, [she who] has not been in labor! For [the] children of [the] desolate woman [are] more than [the] children of [the] married woman," says Yahweh.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You do not see it?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Hear this [O Israel], on the day of your fast [when you should be grieving for your sins] you find something you desire [to do],
And you force your hired servants to work [instead of stopping all work, as the law teaches].

None called upon justice, and none judged in truth: trusting in vanity and speaking evil, they conceived labor and brought forth vanity.

All of your people will be godly; they will possess the land permanently. I will plant them like a shoot; they will be the product of my labor, through whom I reveal my splendor.

Jehovah sware by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, If I shall give more thy grain for food to thine enemies, and if the sons of the stranger shall drink thy new wine which thou didst labor for it:

For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper],
And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;
We all wither and decay like a leaf,
And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor, toward destruction].

Yet, Lord, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor.

They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

Before she was in labor she gave birth; before labor pains came to her, she gave birth to a son.

“Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?
Can a land be born in one day?
Or can a nation be brought forth in a moment?
As soon as Zion was in labor, she also brought forth her sons.

It is but lost labour, that I smite your children, for they receive not my correction. Your own sword destroyeth your prophets, like a devouring lion.

For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

I hear a cry like a woman in labor,
a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.
The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,
stretching out her hands:
Woe is me, for my life is weary
because of the murderers!

We have heard about it,
and we are discouraged.
Distress has seized us—
pain like a woman in labor.

What will you say when he sets over you-- and you have taught them--allies as head over you? Will not labor pains take hold of you, like a woman giving birth?

ye shall bear no burden also out of your houses in the Sabbath: Ye shall do no labour therein, but hallow the Sabbath, as I commanded your fathers.

And I have given all the strength of this city, And all its labour, and all its precious things, Yea, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I do give into the hand of their enemies, And they have spoiled them, and taken them, And have brought them into Babylon.

Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.

Inhabitants of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when labor pains come to you, fear and pain as the [woman who] gives birth.

take you wives, to bear you sons and daughters; provide wives for your sons, and husbands for your daughters, that they may get sons and daughters, and that ye may multiply there. Labour not to be few,

‘Ask now, and see
Whether a man can give birth [to a child].
Why then do I see every man
With his hands on his loins, as a woman in labor?
Why have all faces turned pale?

Look, I'm bringing them from the northern region, and I'll gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. among them will be the blind and the lame, together with the pregnant woman and the woman in labor. A large group will return here.

Thus, saith Yahweh - Restrain thy voice from weeping, And thine eyes from tears, - For there is a reward for thy labour, Declareth Yahweh, So they shall return from the land of the enemy:

Kerioth will be taken, and the strongholds will be conquered, and the hearts of the warriors of Moab will be on that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

Look, like an eagle he will go up and he will swoop down, and he will spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the warriors of Edom will be in that day like [the] heart of a woman [who] is in labor.

Damascus has grown slack. She has turned away to flee and panic. Anxiety has seized [her], and labor pains have grasped her, like a woman in labor.

The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,
and his hands fall helpless.
Distress has seized him—
pain, like a woman in labor.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.

He hath built against me, and compassed me with gall and labor.

Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest.

Young men labor at millstones;
boys stumble under loads of wood.

And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

“Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army work hard [at My command] against Tyre; every [soldier’s] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [from carrying loads of dirt and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no wages from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended during the siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].”

I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.

Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, - As to all the labour thereof, and As to all which shall be done therein.

They shall have fair linen bonnets upon their heads, and linen breeches upon their loins, which in their labour they shall not put about them.

And the residue in the length, answerable unto the holy oblation, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be answerable unto the holy oblation; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that labor in the city.

And they that labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall till it.

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!

The labor pains of childbirth come for him; he [is] an unwise son because [at the] proper time, he does not present himself {at the mouth of the womb}.

And Jehovah saith, 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou didst not labour, neither didst thou nourish it, which a son of a night was, and a son of a night perished,

“Now, why do you cry out loudly?
Is there no king among you?
Has your counselor perished?
For agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth.

Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

Therefore, He will abandon them until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of His brothers will return
to the people of Israel.