If my step has turned from the way, my heart has followed my eyes, or impurity has stained my hands,
Ecclesiastes 6:9 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised Better what the eyes see than wandering desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. , Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition Better is the sight of the eyes [the enjoyment of what is available to one] than the cravings of wandering desire. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it! American Standard Version (1901) Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. Common English Bible It’s better to enjoy what’s at hand than to have an insatiable appetite. This too is pointless, just wind chasing. Catholic Public Domain Version It is better to see what you desire, than to desire what you cannot know. But this, too, is emptiness and a presumption of spirit. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit. |
If my step has turned from the way, my heart has followed my eyes, or impurity has stained my hands,
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind. ,
I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.
‘Absolute futility,’ says the Teacher. ‘Absolute futility. Everything is futile.’
Rejoice, young person, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desire of your eyes; but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgement.
When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had laboured to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. , There was nothing to be gained under the sun.
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. ,
Here is what I have seen to be good: It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labour one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.
God gives a person riches, wealth, and honour so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself, but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy.
For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your chains. You insisted, ‘I will not serve! ’ On every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.