You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.’
Ecclesiastes 1:13 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised I applied my mind to examine and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied. Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition And I applied myself by heart and mind to seek and search out by [human] wisdom all human activity under heaven. It is a miserable business which God has given to the sons of man with which to busy themselves. American Standard Version (1901) And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven: it is a sore travail that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. Common English Bible I applied my mind to investigate and to explore by wisdom all that happens under heaven. It’s an unhappy obsession that God has given to human beings. Catholic Public Domain Version And I was determined in my mind to seek and to investigate wisely, concerning all that is done under the sun. God has given this very difficult task to the sons of men, so that they may be occupied by it. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version And I proposed in my mind to seek and search out wisely concerning all things that are done under the sun. This painful occupation hath God given to the children of men, to be exercised therein. |
You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.’
A miner puts an end to the darkness; he probes the deepest recesses for ore in the gloomy darkness.
One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.
The mind of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to investigate a matter.
Wisdom is supreme #– #so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding.
I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.
Just as you don’t know the path of the wind, or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman, so also you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.
But beyond these, my son, be warned: there is no end to the making of many books, and much study wearies the body.
For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.
He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.
I saw that all labour and all skilful work is due to one person’s jealousy of another. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. ,
There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. ‘Who am I struggling for,’ he asks, ‘and depriving myself of good things? ’ This too is futile and a miserable task.
I turned my thoughts to know, explore, and examine wisdom and an explanation for things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity and folly is madness.
All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.
Practise these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.