if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands;
Ecclesiastes 6:9 - New Revised Standard Version Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after 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 aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands;
I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
And I applied my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is but a chasing after wind.
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from one person's envy of another. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot.
those to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that they lack nothing of all that they desire, yet God does not enable them to enjoy these things, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous ill.
For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said, “I will not serve!” On every high hill and under every green tree you sprawled and played the whore.