| He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. | Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. |
| Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; 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 all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving 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. |
| For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can’t move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak. They must be carried, because they can’t move. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither 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. |
| Wealth gained dishonestly dwindles away, but he who gathers by hand makes it grow. | Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow. |
| Doing nothing through rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than himself. | Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. |
| Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me. | Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. |
