²⁰ For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

¹⁷ To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

²⁹ and he named him Noah, saying, "This same will comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Yahweh has cursed."

²² For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.

¹⁸ How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

³ Therefore the land will mourn, And everyone who dwells therein will waste away. All living things in her, Even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; Yes, the fish of the sea also die.

⁵ Yes, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes [her young], because there is no grass.

⁶ The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

¹¹ They have made it a desolation; it mourns to me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart.

⁴ How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the animals are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.

⁵ The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants of it; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

⁶ Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and those who dwell therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

² "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

⁶ The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands.

⁷ "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

⁹ Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this,

¹⁰ In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind?

¹³ God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.