Ecclesiastes 4:3

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?

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?

or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants who never saw light.

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

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:

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

He will be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

Give them—Yahweh what will you give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

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

They went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.

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.

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.

Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.”

But woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days!

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.”

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.”

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

If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring will not be satisfied with bread.

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

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.

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

because he didn’t kill me from the womb. So my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great.

It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”

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.’

After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (that is, Hebron), in the land of Canaan.

He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, “Who are these with you?” He said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’ ”

If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin. They shall die childless.

You will eat the flesh of your sons, and you will eat the flesh of your daughters.

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.”

You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will distress you.

Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may Yahweh establish his word.” So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him.

Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news came about Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse picked him up and fled. As she hurried to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

The king said to her, “What is your problem?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

and the body of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field on Jezreel’s land, so that they won’t say, “This is Jezebel.” ’ ”

Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up Ahab’s sons, saying,

Then Menahem attacked Tiphsah, and all who were in it, and its border areas, from Tirzah. He attacked it because they didn’t open their gates to him, and he ripped up all their women who were with child.

Of all my sons (for Yahweh has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of Yahweh’s kingdom over Israel.

Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he took eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and became the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.

who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?

Let still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

The clods of the valley will be sweet to him. All men will draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.

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.

Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.

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

Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.

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.

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

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.

I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

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.

Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don’t all go to one place?

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

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.

All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.

Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness.

They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth.

“You shall not take a wife, neither shall you have sons or daughters, in this place.”

Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.

My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.

The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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.

As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception.

But woe to those who are with child and to nursing mothers in those days!

The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

“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?’

Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who nurse infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land, and wrath to this people.

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.

Therefore I think that because of the distress that is on us, that it’s good for a man to remain as he is.

From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations, people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb.