The days of our lives add up to seventy years, ¹  or eighty, if one is especially strong. ²  But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. ³  Yes, ⁴  they pass quickly ⁵  and we fly away. ⁶ 

Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

They returned and reported to Joshua, ¹  “Don’t send the whole army. ²  About two or three thousand men are adequate to defeat Ai. ³  Don’t tire out the whole army, for Ai is small.” ⁴ 

If I am guilty, ¹  why then ²  weary myself ³  in vain? ⁴ 

The blessing ¹  from the Lord ²  makes a person rich, ³  and he adds no sorrow ⁴  to ⁵  it.

Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself. ¹ 

Like ¹  wild donkeys in the desert they ²  go out to their labor, ³  seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides ⁴  food for them and for their children.

There is nothing better for ¹  people ²  than ³  to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment ⁴  in their ⁵  work. I also perceived that this ability to find enjoyment ⁶  comes from God. ⁷ 

Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame. ¹ 

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 

I struck all the products of your labor ¹  with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ ²  says the Lord.

Toward this goal ¹  I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully ²  works in me.

then I discerned all that God has done: ¹  No one really comprehends what happens ²  on earth. ³  Despite all human ⁴  efforts to discover it, no one can ever grasp ⁵  it. ⁶  Even if ⁷  a wise person claimed ⁸  that he understood, he would not really comprehend ⁹  it.

lest strangers devour ¹  your strength, ²  and your labor ³  benefit ⁴  another man’s house.

The wicked ¹  will be captured by his ²  own iniquities, ³  and he will be held ⁴  by the cords of his own sin. ⁵ 

The young men perform menial labor; ¹  boys stagger from their labor. ² 

also to submit to people like this, and to everyone who cooperates in the work and labors hard.

So ¹  when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter somehow tempted you and our toil had proven useless.

If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

The Lord swears an oath by his right hand, by his strong arm: ¹  “I will never again give your grain to your enemies as food, and foreigners will not drink your wine, which you worked hard to produce.