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我见日光之下有一件祸患重压在人身上, 就是人蒙 神赐他财富、资产和尊荣,以致他心里所愿的一样都不缺,只是 神使他不能享用,反被外人享用。这是虚空,也是祸患。 人若生一百个儿子,活许多岁数;他即使寿命很长,心里却不因福乐而满足,又不得埋葬;我说,那流掉的胎比他倒好。 因为这胎虚虚而来,暗暗而去,名字被黑暗遮蔽, 而且没有见过天日,什么都不知道,这胎比那人倒享安息。 那人虽然活千年,再活千年,却不能享福;众人岂不都归同一个地方去吗?

人的劳碌都为口腹,心里却不知足。 智慧人比愚昧人有什么益处呢?困苦人在众人面前知道如何行,有什么益处呢? 眼睛所看的比心里妄想的倒好。这也是虚空,也是捕风。

10 先前所有的,早已起了名,人早知道人是如何的,不能与比自己强壮的相争。 11 话语多,虚空也增多,这对人有什么益处呢? 12 人一生虚度的日子,如影儿经过,谁知道什么才是对他有益呢?谁能告诉他身后在日光之下会发生什么事呢?

Wealth Is Not the Goal of Life

There(A) is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: A man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor, (B)so that he lacks nothing for himself of all he desires; (C)yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but a foreigner consumes it. This is vanity, and it is an evil [a]affliction.

If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or (D)indeed he has no burial, I say that (E)a [b]stillborn child is better than he— for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one (F)place?

(G)All the labor of man is for his mouth,
And yet the soul is not satisfied.
For what more has the wise man than the fool?
What does the poor man have,
Who knows how to walk before the living?
Better is [c]the (H)sight of the eyes than the wandering of [d]desire.
This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.

10 Whatever one is, he has been named (I)already,
For it is known that he is man;
(J)And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that increase vanity,
How is man the better?

12 For who knows what is good for man in life, [e]all the days of his [f]vain life which he passes like (K)a shadow? (L)Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 6:2 disease
  2. Ecclesiastes 6:3 Or miscarriage
  3. Ecclesiastes 6:9 What the eyes see
  4. Ecclesiastes 6:9 Lit. soul
  5. Ecclesiastes 6:12 Lit. the number of the days
  6. Ecclesiastes 6:12 futile

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: 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,(A) and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.(B)

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(C) child is better off than he.(D) It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?(E)

Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
    yet their appetite is never satisfied.(F)
What advantage have the wise over fools?(G)
What do the poor gain
    by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
Better what the eye sees
    than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
    a chasing after the wind.(H)

10 Whatever exists has already been named,(I)
    and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
    with someone who is stronger.
11 The more the words,
    the less the meaning,
    and how does that profit anyone?

12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days(J) they pass through like a shadow?(K) Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?