Ecclesiastes 6

1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard on men;

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

2 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.

A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he wants nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eats it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

3 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.

If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

4 In wind it came and to the dark it will go, and with the dark will its name be covered.

For he comes in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

5 Yes, it saw not the sun, and it had no knowledge; it is better with this than with the other.

Moreover he has not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this has more rest than the other.

6 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?

Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet has he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

7 All the work of man is for his mouth, and still he has a desire for food.

All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

8 What have the wise more than the foolish? and what has the poor man by walking wisely before the living?

For what has the wise more than the fool? what has the poor, that knows to walk before the living?

9 What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

10 That which is, has been named before, and of what man is there is knowledge. He has no power against one stronger than he.

That which has been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.

11 There are words without number for increasing what is to no purpose, but what is man profited by them?

Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?

12 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?

For who knows what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?