Ecclesiastes 1:13

New American Bible - revised edition

and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A bad business God has given to human beings to be busied with.

Cross References

Genesis 3:19

By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Job 28:3

He sets a boundary for the darkness; the farthest confines he explores.

Psalm 111:2

Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.

Proverbs 18:1

One who is alienated seeks a pretext, with all persistence picks a quarrel.

Proverbs 18:15

The heart of the intelligent acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

Proverbs 23:26

My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways,

Proverbs 25:2

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to fathom a matter.

Proverbs 4:7

The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom; whatever else you get, get understanding.

Ecclesiastes 1:17

yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.

Ecclesiastes 11:5

Just as you do not know how the life breath enters the human frame in the mother’s womb, So you do not know the work of God, who is working in everything.

Ecclesiastes 12:12

As to more than these, my son, beware. Of the making of many books there is no end, and in much study there is weariness for the flesh.

Ecclesiastes 2:23

Every day sorrow and grief are their occupation; even at night their hearts are not at rest. This also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

For to the one who pleases God, he gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the one who displeases, God gives the task of gathering possessions for the one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:10

I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Then I saw that all toil and skillful work is the rivalry of one person with another. This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

those all alone with no companion, with neither child nor sibling—with no end to all their toil, and no satisfaction from riches. For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good things? This also is vanity and a bad business.

Ecclesiastes 7:25

I turned my heart toward knowledge; I sought and pursued wisdom and its design, and I recognized that wickedness is foolishness and folly is madness. Critique of Advice on Women.

Ecclesiastes 8:9

All these things I saw and I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun, while one person tyrannizes over another for harm. The Problem of Retribution.

1 Timothy 4:15

Be diligent in these matters, be absorbed in them, so that your progress may be evident to everyone.