| The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. | Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. |
| Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life 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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| 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. | 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 hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it. | Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. |
| Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need. | Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. |
| 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 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. |
