Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:
There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
2 A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.
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.
3 If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.
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.
4 For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.
For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
5 He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:
The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
6 Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?
even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.
All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?
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?
9 Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.
Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
10 He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.
Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
11 There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.
For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
12 What needeth a man to seek things that are above him, whereas he knoweth not what is profitable for him in his life, in all the days of his pilgrimage, and the time that passeth like a shadow? Or who can tell him what shall be after him under the sun?
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?
