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 great 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.
[There is many] a man to whom God hath given riches, property, and honor, and nothing is wanting for his soul of all that he longeth for: yet God empowereth him not to eat thereof, but a stranger will consume it. This is vanity, and it is 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 were to beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years were many, and his soul were not satisfied with what is good, and he have not had even a burial: then do I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
4 For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
For in vanity it came, and in darkness it departeth, and with darkness will its name be covered.
5 The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
Moreover it never saw the sun, and knew nothing: this hath more rest than 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?
Yea, though he were to live a thousand years twice told, and had not seen any good— doth not every one go to one place?
7 All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
All the toil of a man is for his mouth; and yet is his desire never filled.
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?
For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk [properly] 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.
Better is what one seeth with the eyes than the wandering of the desire. Also this is vanity and a torture of the spirit.
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 hath been is already called by its name, and it is known that he is a man: and he is not able to contend with him that is mightier than he.
11 For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
For there are many things that increase vanity: what advantage [cometh thence] for man?
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?
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, the number of the days of his vain life, that he should spend them as a shadow? for who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
