16 the one who controls her controls the wind
and grasps oil with his right hand.

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16 restraining her is like restraining the wind
    or grasping oil with the hand.

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11 When I considered all that I had accomplished[a] and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind.[b](A) There was nothing to be gained under the sun.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 2:11 Lit all my works that my hands had done
  2. 2:11 Or a feeding on wind, or an affliction of spirit; also in vv. 17,26

11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
    and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;(A)
    nothing was gained under the sun.(B)

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17 Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

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Toil Is Meaningless

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.(A)

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The Loneliness of Wealth

I saw that all labor and all skillful work is due to one person’s jealousy of another.(A) This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 4:4 Or a feeding on wind, or an affliction of spirit; also in vv. 6,16

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.(A)

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Better what the eyes see than wandering desire.(A) This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 6:9 Or a feeding on wind, or an affliction of spirit

Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(A)

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