Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard on men;
2 God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.
A man to whom God gives money, wealth, and honour so that he has all his desires but God does not give him the power to have joy of it, and a strange man takes it. This is to no purpose and an evil disease.
3 A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
If a man has a hundred children, and his life is long so that the days of his years are great in number, but his soul takes no pleasure in good, and he is not honoured at his death; I say that a birth before its time is better than he.
4 For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
In wind it came and to the dark it will go, and with the dark will its name be covered.
5 The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
Yes, it saw not the sun, and it had no knowledge; it is better with this than with the other.
6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
And though he goes on living a thousand years twice over and does not see good, are not the two going to the same place?
7 All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
All the work of man is for his mouth, and still he has a desire for food.
8 What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
What have the wise more than the foolish? and what has the poor man by walking wisely before the living?
9 Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.
10 Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
That which is, has been named before, and of what man is there is knowledge. He has no power against one stronger than he.
11 For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
There are words without number for increasing what is to no purpose, but what is man profited by them?
12 For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?
