Ecclesiastes 1:14

all is vanity and vexation of spirit The familiar words, though they fall in with the Debater's tone and have the support of the Vulg. "afflictio spiritus," hardly express the meaning of the Hebrew and we must read "vanity and feeding upon wind." The phrase has its parallel in Hosea 12:2 ("Ephraim feedeth on wind") and Isaiah 44:20 ("feedeth on ashes") and expresses, with a bold vividness, the sense of emptiness which accompanies unsatisfied desire. Most commentators, however, prefer the rendering "striving after the wind" or "windy effort," but "feeding" expresses, it is believed, the meaning of the Hebrew more closely. The LXX. gives προαίρεσις πνεύματος (resolve of wind, i.e.fleeting and unsubstantial). Symmachus gives βόσκησις and Aquila νομή (feeding). The word in question occurs seven times in Ecclesiastes but is not found elsewhere. The rendering "vexation" rests apparently on a false etymology.