Ecclesiastes 6
6
1I have seen something else unfair here on earth. It causes serious problems for people. 2God gives some people great wealth, riches and honor. They have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things. Someone else enjoys them instead. This is unfair and senseless. 3It is sad when a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. Such a person might have 100 children. He might live a long time. But what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him? I say a baby who is born dead is better off than he is. 4It is useless for such a baby to be born. It ends up in the darkness of the grave without even a name. 5That baby never saw the sun. It never knew anything. But it finds more rest than the person who never gets to enjoy the good things God gives him. 6Even if he lives 2,000 years, it is sad if a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. After all, both he and the baby born dead go to the same place—the grave.
7A person works just to feed himself.
But he never seems to get enough to eat.
8In this way a wise man
is no better off than a foolish person.
Then, too, it does a poor man little good
to know how to get along in life.
9So it is better to be happy with what you have
than always to be wanting more.
Always wanting more is useless—
like chasing the wind.
Who Can Understand God’s Plan?
10Everything that happens was planned long ago.
A man is only what he was created to be.
It is useless to argue with God about it.
This is because God is more powerful than man is.
11The more you argue,
the more useless it is.
You gain nothing at all by arguing.
12A person has only a few days of life on the earth. His short life passes like a shadow. And who knows what is best for him while he lives? Who can tell him what will happen after his time on earth?
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Ecclesiastes 6: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Ecclesiastes 6
6
1I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: 2God 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, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
3A 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 child is better off than he. 4It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— 6even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
yet their appetite is never satisfied.
8What advantage have the wise over fools?
What do the poor gain
by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
9Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.
10Whatever exists has already been named,
and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
with someone who is stronger.
11The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?
12For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days they pass through like a shadow? Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
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