Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it [is] great on man:
There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
2 A man to whom God gives wealth, and riches, and honor, and there is no lack to his soul of all that he desires, and God does not give him power to eat of it, but a stranger eats it; this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease.
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 begets one hundred, and lives many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he has not had a grave, I have said, “Better than he [is] the untimely birth.”
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 in vanity he came in, and in darkness he goes, and in darkness his name is covered,
For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
5 even the sun he has not seen nor known, more rest has this than that.
The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
6 And though he had lived one thousand years twice over, yet he has not seen good; does not everyone go to the same 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 labor of man [is] for his mouth, And yet the soul is not filled.
All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 For what advantage [is] to the wise above the fool? What to the poor who knows to walk before the living?
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 [is] the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This [is] also vanity and distress of spirit.
Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
10 What [is] that which has been? Already is its name called, and it is known that it [is] man, And he is not able to contend with him who is stronger than he.
Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
11 For there are many things multiplying vanity; What advantage [is] to man?
For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what [is] good for a man in life, the number of the days of the life of his vanity, and he makes them as a shadow? For who declares to man what is 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?
