Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. | Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. |
Then I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. | 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. |
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Work brings profit, but mere talk leads to poverty! | In all toil there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. |
The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. | The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. |
And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. | Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God. |
We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. | As they came from their mother's womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands. |
Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. | 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. |
So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God. | I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God's gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. |
Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit. | Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. |