Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun,(A) and it weighs heavily on humanity:[a] God gives a person riches, wealth, and honor(B) so that he lacks nothing of all he desires for himself,(C) but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a sickening tragedy. A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives,[b] if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial,(D) I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.(E) For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness. Though a stillborn child does not see the sun and is not conscious, it has more rest than he. And if a person lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

All of a person’s labor is for his stomach,[c](F)
yet the appetite is never satisfied.

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Footnotes

  1. 6:1 Or it is common among men
  2. 6:3 Lit how many years
  3. 6:7 Lit mouth

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