Will ¹  there be an end to your ²  windy words? ³  Or what provokes ⁴  you that you answer? ⁵ 

¹ “The wings of the ostrich ²  flap with joy, ³  but are they the pinions and plumage of a stork? ⁴ 

Give us help against the enemy, for any help men might offer is futile. ¹ 

The one who sows ¹  iniquity will reap trouble, and the rod of his fury ²  will end.

I reflected on everything that is accomplished by man ¹  on earth, ²  and I concluded: Everything ³  he has accomplished ⁴  is futile ⁵  – like chasing the wind! ⁶ 

Better is one handful with some rest than two hands full of toil ¹  and chasing the wind.

All the nations are insignificant before him; they are regarded as absolutely nothing. ¹ 

He is the one who reduces rulers to nothing; he makes the earth’s leaders insignificant.

Look, all of them are nothing, ¹  their accomplishments are nonexistent; their metal images lack any real substance. ² 

The people of those nations ¹  are both stupid and foolish. Instruction from a wooden idol is worthless! ² 

But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, ¹  quarrels, and fights about the law, ²  because they are useless and empty.

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 

During the days of my fleeting life ¹  I have seen both ²  of these things: Sometimes ³  a righteous person dies prematurely ⁴  in spite of ⁵  his righteousness, and sometimes ⁶  a wicked person lives long ⁷  in spite of his evil deeds.

So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness ¹  will be many – all that is about to come is obscure. ² 

Then I said, ¹  “Lord, you give me strength and protect me. You are the one I can run to for safety when I am in trouble. ²  Nations from all over the earth will come to you and say, ‘Our ancestors had nothing but false gods – worthless idols that could not help them at all. ³ 

They rejected his rules, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the laws he had commanded them to obey. ¹  They paid allegiance to ²  worthless idols, and so became worthless to the Lord. ³  They copied the practices of the surrounding nations in blatant disregard of the Lord’s command. ⁴ 

A man who is all alone with no companion, ¹  he has no children nor siblings; ²  yet there is no end to all his toil, and he ³  is never satisfied with riches. He laments, ⁴  “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself ⁵  of pleasure?” ⁶  This also is futile and a burdensome task! ⁷ 

For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

Micaiah replied, “Look, you will see in the day when you go into an inner room to hide.”