Ecclesiastes 6
Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition (1899)Translation
Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition (1899)
Berean Standard Bible
1There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:
1There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
2A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.
2God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction.
3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, and attain to a great age, and his soul make no use of the goods of his substance, and he be without burial: of this man I pronounce, that the untimely born is better than he.
3A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
4For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.
4For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
5He hath not seen the sun, nor known the distance of good and evil:
5The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
6Although he lived two thousand years, and hath not enjoyed good things: do not all make haste to one place?
6even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7All the labour of man is for his mouth, but his soul shall not be filled.
7All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8What hath the wise man more than the fool? and what the poor man, but to go thither, where there is life?
8What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
9Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.
9Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
10He that shall be, his name is already called: and it is known, that he is man, and cannot contend in judgment with him that is stronger than himself.
10Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
11There are many words that have much vanity in disputing.
11For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
no verse 12 in this text
12For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
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