Ecclesiastes · 12 verses
Ecclesiastes 6
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
A stillborn child can fare better than a man with a hundred children, a long life, and no satisfaction to show for either.
The stranger gets the treasurevv. 1–6
The chapter opens with a man handed the full catalogue of worldly success: riches, wealth, honor, and every desire he can name. There is only one catch, and it is the size of the whole arrangement: he is not allowed to enjoy any of it, while a stranger enjoys it instead. Even a hundred children and a life stretched to two thousand years cannot rescue him if prosperity remains tasteless and burial does not come properly. The stillborn child, entering in futility and departing in darkness, is granted the curious advantage of never having to discover what has been missed.
The appetite keeps the accountsvv. 7–12
Then the chapter turns from the grand misfortune to the ordinary machinery of it: labor fills the mouth, but appetite remains an unsatisfied little official. The wise man, the fool, and the poor man who knows how to behave before others are placed under the same interrogation, while visible things are preferred to desire wandering off on its own. More words only multiply futility; meanwhile, a human life passes like a shadow, and nobody can say what comes after it under the sun.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Eccl 6:1There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
Eccl 6:2God 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.
Eccl 6:3A 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.
Eccl 6:4For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
Eccl 6:5The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
Eccl 6:6even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
Eccl 6:7All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
Eccl 6:8What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
Eccl 6:9Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Eccl 6:10Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
Eccl 6:11For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
Eccl 6:12For 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?
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 136 passages were voted onto 12 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 7John 6:27Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- 2Ecclesiastes 5:19Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.
- 7Proverbs 16:26A worker’s appetite works for him because his hunger drives him onward.
- 12James 4:14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- 71 Timothy 6:6–8Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.
- 10Job 9:32For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
- 12Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- 1Ecclesiastes 5:13There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
- 3Job 3:16Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
- 9Ecclesiastes 1:14I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.
- 10Isaiah 45:9–10Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- 12Ecclesiastes 3:22I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
- 2Psalms 73:7From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.
- 2Psalms 17:14from such men, O LORD, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.
- 7Matthew 6:25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- 10Job 40:2“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
Onward