Ecclesiastes 2:17

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

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

even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

Aren’t my days few? Stop! Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?

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

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

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.

Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.

If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

Don’t weep for the dead. Don’t bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he will return no more, and not see his native country.

Yahweh’s word came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and Yahweh’s hand was there on him.

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.”

Yahweh smelled the pleasant aroma. Yahweh said in his heart, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake because the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. I will never again strike every living thing, as I have done.

Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good.

“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

Yahweh’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in Yahweh’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

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

Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin.

They don’t know, neither do they understand. They walk back and forth in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

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.

What profit has he who works in that in which he labors?

If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them.

A good name is better than fine perfume; and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth.

For Yahweh spoke this to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

If I say, I will not make mention of him, or speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in. I can’t.

Why did I come out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.

When he saw that, he arose, and ran for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

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

I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.

To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.

If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and don’t let me see my wretchedness.”

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough. Now, O Yahweh, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.”

“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!

Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!

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

For what does a man have of all his labor and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

Moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there; and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there.

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

Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

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.

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

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.

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

So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.

Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.