(A)Vanity[a] of vanities, says (B)the Preacher,
    (C)vanity of vanities! (D)All is vanity.

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Footnotes

  1. 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

“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”(A)

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11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was (A)vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing (B)to be gained under the sun.

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11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;(A)
    nothing was gained under the sun.(B)

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17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for (A)all is vanity and a striving after wind.

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Toil Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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26 For to the one who pleases him (A)God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given (B)the business of gathering and collecting, (C)only to give to one who pleases God. (D)This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,(A) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth(B) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.(C) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is (A)vanity[a] and a striving after wind.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 4:4 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 7, 8, 16 (see note on 1:2)

And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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Better (A)is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is (B)vanity and a striving after wind.

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Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(A)

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