Ecclesiastes 2:18

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

For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

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

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

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

This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.

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

Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of Yahweh.

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.

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:

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

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

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

For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Whatever my eyes desired, I didn’t keep from them. I didn’t withhold my heart from any joy, for my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor.

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.

There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in the same way, bad things. But here he is now comforted, and you are in anguish.

For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.

yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another’s foundation.

For no one can lay any other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.

You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”

On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.

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

Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out, to the furthest bound, the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.

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

This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings.

The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:

Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?

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

I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a chasing after wind.

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?

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.

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?

We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from the sky, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: ‘The kingdom has departed from you.

“His lord commended the dishonest manager because he had done wisely, for the children of this world are, in their own generation, wiser than the children of the light.

Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”

and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God. If anyone serves, let it be as of the strength which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni, but his father named him Benjamin.

to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt. They have done abominable deeds. There is no one who does good.

I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.

I will walk in liberty, for I have sought your precepts.

House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Yahweh.

“Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding.

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

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

Also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor, is the gift of God.

Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

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.

Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

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),

Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

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

You foolish ones, didn’t he who made the outside make the inside also?

For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

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.

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.

Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

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

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 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.

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.

Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another builds on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.