The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. | One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility. |
Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. | So remove sorrow from your heart and keep pain away from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. |
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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. | I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a person and his neighbor. This too is futility and striving after wind. |
Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it. | Wealth obtained from nothing dwindles, But one who gathers by labor increases it. |
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. | Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves. |
Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need. | Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion. |
For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan; people deck 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, nor is it in them to do good. | For the customs of the peoples are futile; For it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool. They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter. They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good. |