Ecclesiastes 6
6
1I have seen something else wrong here on earth that causes serious problems for people. 2God gives great wealth, riches, and honor to some people; they have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things; a stranger enjoys them instead. This is useless and very wrong. 3A man might have a hundred children and live a long time, but what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him or have a proper burial? I say a baby born dead is better off than he is. 4A baby born dead is useless. It returns to darkness without even a name. 5That baby never saw the sun and never knew anything, but it finds more rest than that man. 6Even if he lives two thousand years, he doesn’t enjoy the good God gives him. Everyone is going to the same place.
7People work just to feed themselves,
but they never seem to get enough to eat.
8In this way a wise person
is no better off than a fool.
Then, too, it does a poor person little good
to know how to get along in life.
9It is better to see what you have
than to want more.
Wanting more is useless—
like chasing the wind.
Who Can Understand God’s Plan?
10Whatever happens was planned long ago.
Everyone knows what people are like.
No one can argue with God,
who is stronger than anyone.
11The more you say,
the more useless it is.
What good does it do?
12People have only a few useless days of life on the earth; their short life passes like a shadow. Who knows what is best for them while they live? Who can tell them what the future will bring?
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Ecclesiastes 6: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Ecclesiastes 6
6
1There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity. 2God 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.
3A 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. 4His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name, 5and 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. 6He 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?
7All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. 8So 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?
9Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
The Future—Determined and Unknown
10Everything 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.
11The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they?
12In 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?
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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