Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, ¹  who pull sin as with cart ropes. ² 

and the Lord has sent the people off to a distant place, and the very heart of the land is completely abandoned. ¹ 

They are worthless, objects to be ridiculed. When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.

Now ¹  the earth ²  was without shape and empty, ³  and darkness ⁴  was over the surface of the watery deep, ⁵  but the Spirit of God ⁶  was moving ⁷  over the surface ⁸  of the water. ⁹ 

Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ¹  Surely they accumulate worthless wealth without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ² 

I thought to myself, ¹  “Come now, ²  I will try ³  self-indulgent pleasure ⁴  to see ⁵  if it is worthwhile.” ⁶  But I found ⁷  that it also is futile. ⁸ 

For all day long ¹  his work produces pain and frustration, ²  and even at night his mind cannot relax! ³  This also is futile!

The one who loves money ¹  will never be satisfied with money, ²  he who loves wealth ³  will never be satisfied ⁴  with his ⁵  income. This also is futile.

It is better to be content with ¹  what the eyes can see ²  than for one’s heart always to crave more. ³  This continual longing ⁴  is futile – like ⁵  chasing the wind.

For like the crackling of quick-burning thorns ¹  under a cooking pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This kind of folly ²  also is useless. ³ 

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Destruction, devastation, and desolation! ¹  Their hearts faint, ²  their knees tremble, ³  each stomach churns, ⁴  each face ⁵  turns ⁶  pale! ⁷ 

Be sure of this! The Lord who commands armies has decreed: The nations’ efforts will go up in smoke; their exhausting work will be for nothing. ¹ 

So I say this, and insist ¹  in the Lord, that you no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility ²  of their thinking. ³ 

For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ¹  they are able to entice, ²  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ³  people ⁴  who have just escaped ⁵  from those who reside in error. ⁶ 

Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. ¹  When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air. ² 

So I thought to myself, “The fate of the fool will happen even to me! ¹  Then what did I gain by becoming so excessively ²  wise?” ³  So I lamented to myself, ⁴  “The benefits of wisdom ⁵  are ultimately ⁶  meaningless!”

Who knows if he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet ¹  he will be master over all the fruit of ²  my labor ³  for which I worked so wisely ⁴  on earth! ⁵  This also is futile!

For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; however, he must hand over ¹  the fruit of his labor ²  as an inheritance ³  to someone else who did not work for it. This also is futile, and an awful injustice! ⁴ 

There is no end to all the people ¹  nor to the past generations, ²  yet future generations ³  will not rejoice in him. This also is profitless and like ⁴  chasing the wind.