Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
- BSB So banish sorrow from your heart, and cast off pain from your body, for youth and vigor are fleeting.
- NKJV Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, And put away evil from your flesh, For childhood and youth are vanity.
- NASB So remove sorrow from your heart and keep pain away from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting.
- NLT So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Remove anxiety from your heart and put away evil from your body, for youth and its vigor are fleeting. Live wisely and purely now, since the strength of youth quickly passes.
Overview
Qoheleth urges the young to cast off vexation and sin, making the most of their brief season of vitality. The reminder that youth is fleeting motivates wise, clean living rather than reckless indulgence. This counsel leads directly into the call to remember the Creator, the truly wise use of one's early years (1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 2:22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 2 Cor 7:1Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
- 2 Tim 2:22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Eccl 1:2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Eccl 12:1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
- Job 20:11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
- Ps 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- 2 Pet 3:11–14Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
- Ps 90:7–11For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
- Job 13:26For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.
- Ps 25:7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
- Prov 22:15Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 11:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.