Ecclesiastes 6
Contemporary English Version
Don't Depend on Wealth
6 There is something else terribly unfair, and it troubles everyone on earth. 2 God may give you everything you want—money, property, and wealth. Then God doesn't let you enjoy it, and someone you don't even know gets it all. That's senseless and terribly unfair!
3 You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. 4-5 That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, 6 even if you live two thousand years and don't enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.
7 We struggle just to have enough to eat, but we are never satisfied. 8 We may be sensible, yet we are no better off than a fool. And if we are poor, it still doesn't do us any good to try to live right. 9 It's better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.[a]
10 Everything that happens was decided long ago. We humans know what we are like, and we can't argue with God, because he is[b] too strong for us. 11 The more we talk, the less sense we make, so what good does it do to talk? 12 Life is short and meaningless, and it fades away like a shadow. Who knows what is best for us? Who knows what will happen after we are gone?
Ecclesiastes 6
The Message
Things Are Bad
6 1-2 I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn’t let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It’s more of what I’m calling smoke. A bad business.
3-5 Say a couple have scores of children and live a long, long life but never enjoy themselves—even though they end up with a big funeral! I’d say that a stillborn baby gets the better deal. It gets its start in a mist and ends up in the dark—unnamed. It sees nothing and knows nothing, but is better off by far than anyone living.
6 Even if someone lived a thousand years—make it two thousand!—but didn’t enjoy anything, what’s the point? Doesn’t everyone end up in the same place?
7 We work to feed our appetites;
Meanwhile our souls go hungry.
8-9 So what advantage has a sage over a fool, or over some poor wretch who barely gets by? Just grab whatever you can while you can; don’t assume something better might turn up by and by. All it amounts to anyway is smoke. And spitting into the wind.
10 Whatever happens, happens. Its destiny is fixed.
You can’t argue with fate.
11-12 The more words that are spoken, the more smoke there is in the air. And who is any better off? And who knows what’s best for us as we live out our meager smoke-and-shadow lives? And who can tell any of us the next chapter of our lives?
Ecclesiastes 6
English Standard Version
6 (A)There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man (B)to whom (C)God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he (D)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God (E)does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;[a] it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that (F)the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's (G)good things, and he also has no (H)burial, I say that (I)a stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not (J)seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds (K)rest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy[b] no good—do not all go to the one place?
7 (L)All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.[c] 8 For what advantage has the wise man (M)over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better (N)is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is (O)vanity and a striving after wind.
10 Whatever has come to be has (P)already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to (Q)dispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his (R)vain[d] life, which he passes like (S)a shadow? For who can tell man what will be (T)after him under the sun?
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 6:2 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath”; also verses 4, 9, 11 (see note on 1:2)
- Ecclesiastes 6:6 Or see
- Ecclesiastes 6:7 Hebrew filled
- Ecclesiastes 6:12 The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
