Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavy on men.
I have seen something [else here] on this earth that troubles people.
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.
God enables some people to get a lot of money and possessions and to be honored; they have everything [LIT] that they want. But God [sometimes] does not allow them to continue to enjoy those things. Someone else gets them and enjoys them. That seems senseless and unfair.
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.
Someone might have 100 children and live for many years. But if he is not able to enjoy the things that he has acquired, and if he is not buried [properly after he dies], [I say that] a child that is dead when it is born is more fortunate.
4 Even such a baby is born in futility and passes away in darkness, and its name remains hidden.
That dead baby’s birth is meaningless; it does not even have a name. It goes directly to the place where there is only darkness.
5 Although this child does not see the sun or know anything, it has rest even though that man did not.
It does not [live to] see the sun or know anything. But it finds more rest than rich people do [who are alive].
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.
Even if people could live for 2,000 years, if they do not enjoy the things that God gives to them, [it would have been better for them never to have been born]. [All people who live a long time] certainly [RHQ] all go to the same place— [to the grave].
7 All a man's work is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
People work hard to [earn enough money to buy] food to eat [MTY], but [often] they never get enough to eat.
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?
So it seems that [RHQ] wise people do not receive more lasting benefits than foolish people do. And it seems that [RHQ] poor people do not benefit from knowing how to conduct their lives.
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.
It is better to enjoy the things that we already have [MTY] than to constantly want more things; continually wanting more things is [senseless], [like] the wind.
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.
All the things that exist [on the earth] have been given names. And everyone knows what people are like, [so] it is useless to argue with someone (OR, with God) who is stronger than we are.
11 The more words that are spoken, the more futility increases, so what advantage is that to a man?
The more [that we] talk, the more [often we say things that are] senseless, so it certainly does not [RHQ] benefit us to talk a lot.
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?
We live for only a short time; we disappear like [SIM] a shadow disappears [in the sunlight]. No one [RHQ] knows what is best for us while we are alive, and no one [RHQ] knows what will happen to us after we die [EUP].
