Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! | He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. |
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 a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. |
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So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless. | Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. |
Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time. | Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. |
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. | Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. |
First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. | Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me. |
Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol. They decorate it with gold and silver and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails so it won’t fall over. Their gods are like helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field! They cannot speak, and they need to be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of such gods, for they can neither harm you nor do you any good. | For the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. |