Ecclesiastes 6 Parallel Bible Translations

Ecclesiastes 6 ▼
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New Living Translation
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English Standard Version
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1 There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind:
2 God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless—a sickening tragedy. a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
3 A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn’t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead. If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
4 His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name, For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.
5 and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man. Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man—
6 He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else—well, what’s the use? Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one 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 people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied.
8 So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others? For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
9 Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
10 Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny. Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger.
11 The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they? The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?
12 In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow. Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
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