Ecclesiastes 3:19

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

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

I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.

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

There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.

For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the foreigner living among them, shall these six cities be for refuge, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

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

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

Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

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.

“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.

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.”

They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.

For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.

all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have brought me into the dust of death.

You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.

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

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.

There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

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.”

Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,

All the days that Adam lived were nine hundred thirty years, then he died.

Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’

Micaiah said, “If you return at all in peace, Yahweh has not spoken by me.” He said, “Listen, all you people!”

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

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

Nevertheless you shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers.”

Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”

His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

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

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.

All go to one place. All are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

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 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.

So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.

I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

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.

Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can’t understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter.

Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. An arrogant man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.

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

The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.”

If these men die the common death of all men, or if they experience what all men experience, then Yahweh hasn’t sent me.

For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him.

For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.

You hide your face; they are troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to the dust.

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

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.

For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

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

All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

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

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

Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.

Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?”

“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.

But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.”

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.

“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”