Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavy on men.
There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:
2 God might give riches, wealth, and honor to a man so that he lacks nothing that he desires for himself, but then God gives him no ability to enjoy it. Instead, someone else uses his things. This is vapor, an evil affliction.
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.
3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but if his heart is not satisfied with good and he is not buried, then I say that a baby that is born dead is better off than he is.
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.
4 Even such a baby is born in futility and passes away in darkness, and its name remains hidden.
For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.
5 Although this child does not see the sun or know anything, it has rest even though that man did not.
He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:
6 Even if a man should live for two thousand years but does not learn to enjoy good things, he goes to the same place as everyone else.
Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?
7 All a man's work is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.
8 Indeed, what advantage has the wise person over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have even if he knows how to act in front of other people?
What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?
9 It is better to be satisfied with what the eyes see than to desire what a wandering appetite craves, which is also vapor and an attempt to shepherd the wind.
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.
10 Whatever has existed has already been given its name, and what mankind is like has already been known. So it has become useless to dispute with the one who is the mighty judge of all.
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.
11 The more words that are spoken, the more futility increases, so what advantage is that to a man?
There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.
12 For who knows what is good for man in his life during his futile, numbered days through which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come under the sun after he passes?
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?
