Ecclesiastes 1:2

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored for the righteous.

I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw near, when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them;”

For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

“Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “All is vanity!”

He named him Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, caused by the ground which Yahweh has cursed.”

but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; and a man’s eyes are never satisfied.

What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were counted of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me,

I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will surely do this to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.”

But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.

My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.

for riches are not forever, nor does the crown endure to all generations.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Jacob heard Laban’s sons’ words, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. He has obtained all this wealth from that which was our father’s.”

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent will divide the silver.

Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.

I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.

He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

All things are full of weariness beyond uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?

Then the presidents and the local governors sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion or fault, because he was faithful. There wasn’t any error or fault found in him.

He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let’s cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Flee from youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Yahweh God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.”

Yahweh said to Noah, “Come with all of your household into the ship, for I have seen your righteousness before me in this generation.

He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.

I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.

Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy continually.

For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.

He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.

But there is a spirit in man, and the Spirit of the Almighty gives them understanding.

“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.

Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

It is vain for you to rise up early, to stay up late, eating the bread of toil, for he gives sleep to his loved ones.

The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.

Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I have seen the burden which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity.

Therefore I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Therefore I praised the dead who have been long dead more than the living who are yet alive.

Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. “For whom then, do I labor and deprive my soul of enjoyment?” This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was—yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.

For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?

For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her; but the sinner will be ensnared by her.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night),

Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land!

Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will waste away, with all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky, yes, the fish of the sea also die.

How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and perseverance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.

Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be arrogant, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn’t the Father’s, but is the world’s.

Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.”

Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror.

Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me,

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.

So on the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, and they had entered into the place of hearing with the commanding officers and the principal men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.