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.

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.

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.

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.

{For wisdom offers protection like money offers protection}. But knowledge [has] an advantage--wisdom restores life to its possessor.

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.

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.

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.

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.

So enjoy yourself in your youth, young man, and be encouraged during your younger days. Live as you like, consistent with your world view, but keep in mind that God will bring you to account for everything.

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.

“The aroma of your oils is fragrant and pleasing;
Your name is perfume poured out;
Therefore the maidens love you.

(The Chorus)“We will rejoice and be glad in you;
We will remember and extol your love more [sweet and fragrant] than wine.
Rightly do they love you.”(The Shulammite Bride)
“I am deeply tanned but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
[I am dark] like the tents of [the Bedouins of] Kedar,
Like the [beautiful] curtains of Solomon.

Tell me, [you] whom my {heart} loves, where do you pasture your flock, where do your sheep lie down at the noon? {For why should I be like} one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?

The Lover to His Beloved: O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh's stallions.

“My beloved is to me like a pouch of myrrh
Which lies all night between my breasts.

My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-Gedi.

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, how beautiful you are, my beloved! Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves!

(The Bridegroom)
“Like the lily among the thorns,
So are you, my darling, among the maidens.”

(The Shulammite Bride)
“Like an apple tree [rare and welcome] among the trees of the forest,
So is my beloved among the young men!
In his shade I took great delight and sat down,
And his fruit was sweet and delicious to my palate.

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

{Oh my}! You [are] beautiful, my beloved! {Oh my}! You [are] beautiful! Your eyes [are] doves from behind your veil. Your hair [is] like a flock of goats that move down from the mountains of Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

The fruits that sprout in thee are like a very Paradise of pomegranates with sweet fruits:

Nevertheless when I had opened unto my beloved, he was departed and gone his way. Now like as afore time when he spake, my heart could not longer refrain: Even so now I sought him, but I could not find him: I cried upon him, nevertheless he gave me no answer.

What is so special about your beloved, most beautiful of women? What is so special about your beloved, that you charge us like this?

His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, Washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

“His hands are rods of gold
Set with beryl;
His abdomen is a figure of carved ivory
Inlaid with sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as fair as Jerusalem; you are to be feared like an army with flags.

“Turn your [flashing] eyes away from me,
For they have confused and overcome me;
Your hair is like [the shimmering black fleece of] a flock of [Arabian] goats
That have descended from Mount Gilead.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, Which are come up from the washing; Whereof every one hath twins, And none is bereaved among them.

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate Behind thy veil.

‘Who is this that looks down like the dawn,
Fair and beautiful as the full moon,
Clear and pure as the sun,
As majestic as an army with banners?’

Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

Return, return, Shulammite, return, return, so we may look at you! Why should you look at the Shulammite, like you watch the dance of the two camps?

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.

Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies.

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.

“Oh, that you were like a brother to me,
Who nursed at the breasts of my mother.
If I found you out of doors, I would kiss you;
No one would blame me or despise me, either.

(The Shulammite Bride)“Under the apple tree I awakened you [to my love];
There your mother was in labor with you,
There she was in labor and gave you birth.

“Put me like a seal on your heart,
Like a seal on your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy is as severe and cruel as Sheol (the place of the dead).
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
[A most vehement flame] the very flame of the Lord!

I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

The companions are attending to thy voice, Cause me to hear. Flee, my beloved, and be like to a roe,

Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Your country [is] desolate, your cities [are] burned [with] fire; [As for] your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence, and [it is] desolate, like devastation [by] foreigners.

The Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) is left like a [deserted] shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city [isolated, surrounded by devastation].

Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them].

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

How has a faithful city become like a whore? Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

And I will turn my hand against you; I will purify your dross like lye, and I will remove all [of] your tin.

For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers and dies
And like a garden that has no water.

The strong man will become tinder,
And his work a spark.
So both will burn together
And there will be none to quench them.

Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers.

Their partiality testifies against them,
They display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even hide it.
Woe (judgment is coming) to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves [as a reward].

As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.

In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon,

Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]
And the dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,
And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.
And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.
In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,
But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

“And though a tenth [of the people] remain in the land,
It will again be subject to destruction [consumed and burned],
Like a massive terebinth tree or like an oak
Whose stump remains when it is chopped down.
The holy seed [the elect remnant] is its stump [the substance of Israel].”

And it is declared to the house of David, saying, 'Aram hath been led towards Ephraim,' And his heart and the heart of his people is moved, like the moving of trees of a forest by the presence of wind.

These [armies, like flies and bees] will all come and settle on the steep and rugged ravines and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorn bushes and in all the watering places.

Like as they shall come into the land with arrows and bows, so shall all the land become briers and thorns.

And [as for] all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, [for] fear of briers and thornbushes. And it will become like pastureland [for] cattle and overtrodden land [for] sheep.

"It's the king of Assyria and all of his arrogance! He will rise over all of the river's channels and run over all of its banks. He will sweep on into Judah, overflowing as he passes through, like flood waters reaching up to a person's neck. His outstretched wings will flow as wide as your land, O Immanuel!"

For, thus, spake Yahweh unto me like a firm grasp of the hand, - when he admonished me, not to walk in the way of this people, saying:

And he will become like a sanctuary and a stumbling-stone, and like a stumbling-rock for the two houses of Israel, like a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Look! I and the children whom Yahweh has given to me [are] like signs and portents in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, the one who dwells on the mountain of Zion.

And when they say to you, Make request for us to those who have control of spirits, and to those wise in secret arts, who make hollow bird-like sounds; is it not right for a people to make request to their gods, to make request for the living to the dead?

for teaching and for testimony?" {surely they [who] speak like this have no dawn}.