| He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. | Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. |
| Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity. | So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless. |
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| Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit. | And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. |
| Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. | Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. |
| Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me. | Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. |
| Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. | For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good. |
