The world is full of vanity,
But what is vanity?
A faith in what is substanceless,
Which is idolatry.
The physical is substanceless,
When of God’s Spirit dispossessed.

The world is cursed because of sin,
Man ate the fruit of sin.
Of good and evil, knowledge, death,
And pain that they brought in.
I take the fruit and think on death,
The vapor left without God’s breath.

Through all of history what is gained?
But toil, never gain.
For day by day the earth still turns,
Man always walks with pain,
Men live and die successive turns,
And nothing’s ever, ever learned.

I saw the pleasures of the world,
But that’s a phantom world.
Through all is self-idolatry,
They can not sate the soul.
So life is our idolatry,
We mortals — oh, the irony!

And what is life on earth but damned,
And every action damns.
And history lives under the curse,
The toil of each man,
To suffer, sin, and die, and curse,
We’re born and then return to earth.

But turn yourself to worship God,
For all comes back to God.
And work with diligence and joy,
To imitate our God.
And think on pain, but then rejoice,
For that’s our lot, and that’s our choice.

Remember always Jesus Christ,
For all comes back to Christ.
In trusting and obedience,
To Christ then we rely,
To fear God in obedience,
So is the end of all of this.