Chapter 6 — The Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes

Limited Worth of Enjoyment.

¹ There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon humankind:

² () There is one to whom God gives riches and property and honor, and who lacks nothing the heart could desire; yet God does not grant the power to partake of them, but a stranger devours them. This is vanity and a dire plague.

³ Should one have a hundred children and live many years, no matter to what great age, still if one has not the full benefit of those goods, I proclaim that the child born dead, even if left unburied, is more fortunate.()

⁴ () Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness,

⁵ though it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet the dead child has more peace.

⁶ Should such a one live twice a thousand years and not enjoy those goods, do not both go to the same place?()

⁷ All human toil is for the mouth,() yet the appetite is never satisfied.

⁸ What profit have the wise compared to fools, or what profit have the lowly in knowing how to conduct themselves in life?

QOHELETH’S CONCLUSIONS

⁹ “What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after.”() This also is vanity and a chase after wind.

¹⁰ Whatever is, was long ago given its name, and human nature is known; mortals cannot contend in judgment with One who is stronger.()

¹¹ For the more words, the more vanity; what profit is there for anyone?

¹² () For who knows what is good for mortals in life, the limited days of their vain life, spent like a shadow? Because who can tell them what will come afterward under the sun?()