19 You will eat bread[a] by the sweat of your brow
until you return to the ground,(A)
since you were taken from it.
For you are dust,
and you will return to dust.”

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Footnotes

  1. 3:19 Or food

19 By the sweat of your brow(A)
    you will eat your food(B)
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”(C)

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23 For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful;(A) even at night, his mind does not rest.(B) This too is futile.

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23 All their days their work is grief and pain;(A) even at night their minds do not rest.(B) This too is meaningless.

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26 For to the person who is pleasing in his sight, he gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy;(A) 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.(B) This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.(C)

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26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom,(A) knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth(B) to hand it over to the one who pleases God.(C) This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

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10 I have seen the task that God has given the children of Adam to keep them occupied.(A)

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10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.(A)

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There is a person without a companion,[a] without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches.(A) “Who am I struggling for,” he asks, “and depriving myself of good things?” This too is futile and a miserable task.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:8 Lit person, but there is not a second,

There was a man all alone;
    he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
    yet his eyes were not content(A) with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
    “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
    a miserable business!

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