Ecclesiastes 6
1 I have observed another evil here on earth, and it has a great impact on humanity.
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:
2 God gives wealth, possessions, and honor to someone. They have everything they want. But God doesn't let them enjoy what they have. Instead somebody else does! This is hard to fathom, and is truly evil.
a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3 A man could have one hundred children, and grow old, but it wouldn't matter how long his life was if he couldn't enjoy it and at the end receive a decent burial. I would say that a stillborn child would be better off than him.
If a man beget an hundred children and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
4 The way a stillborn child comes into the world and then leaves is painfully hard to understand—arriving and departing in darkness—and who he would have been is never known.
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;
5 He never saw the light of day or knew what it was like to live. Yet the child finds rest, and not this man.
moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:
6 Even if this man were to live a thousand years twice over he still wouldn't be happy. Don't we all end up in the same place—the grave?
yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good: do not all go to one place?
7 Everyone works so they can live, but they're never satisfied.
All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8 So then, what real advantage do wise people have over those who are fools? And do poor people really gain anything in knowing how to behave in front of others?
For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? [or] what hath the poor man, that knoweth to walk before the living?
9 Be happy with what you have instead of running after what you don't! But this is also hard to do, like running after the wind.
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
10 Everything that exists has already been described. Everyone knows what people are like, and that you can't win an argument with a superior.
Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago, and it is known that it is man: neither can he contend with him that is mightier than he.
11 For the more words you use, the harder it is to make sense. So what's the point?
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
12 Who knows what's best for us and our lives? During our short lives that pass like shadows we have many unanswered questions. And who can tell us what will happen when we're gone?
For who knoweth what is good for man in [his] life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
