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Ecclesiastes 5:15-17
Contemporary English Version
Ecclesiastes 5:15-17
Contemporary English Version
15 (A) They came into this world naked, and when they die, they will be just as naked. They can't take anything with them, and they won't have anything to show for all their work. 16 That's terribly unfair. They leave the world just as they came. They gained nothing from running after the wind. 17 Besides all this, they are always gloomy at mealtime, and they are troubled, sick, and bitter.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 5.17 bitter: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 17.
Ecclesiastes 5:15-17
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 5:15-17
New International Version
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.(A)
They take nothing from their toil(B)
that they can carry in their hands.(C)
16 This too is a grievous evil:
As everyone comes, so they depart,
and what do they gain,
since they toil for the wind?(D)
17 All their days they eat in darkness,
with great frustration, affliction and anger.
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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