Ecclesiastes 6
6
Don't Depend on Wealth
1There is something else terribly unfair, and it troubles everyone on earth. 2God may give you everything you want—money, property, and wealth. Then God doesn't let you enjoy it, and someone you don't even know gets it all. That's senseless and terribly unfair!
3You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. 4-5That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, 6even if you live two thousand years and don't enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.
7We struggle just to have enough to eat, but we are never satisfied. 8We may be sensible, yet we are no better off than a fool. And if we are poor, it still doesn't do us any good to try to live right. 9It's better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.#6.9 chasing the wind: See the note at 1.14.
10Everything that happens was decided long ago. We humans know what we are like, and we can't argue with God, because he is#6.10 with God, because he is: Or “with anyone who is.” too strong for us. 11The more we talk, the less sense we make, so what good does it do to talk? 12Life is short and meaningless, and it fades away like a shadow. Who knows what is best for us? Who knows what will happen after we are gone?
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Ecclesiastes 6: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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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