World English Bible
- There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:
- a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
- If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he;
- for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
- Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.
- Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don’t all go to one place?
- All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
- For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?
- Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.
- For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?
- For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
The World English Bible describes a man who possesses “riches, wealth, and honor,” yet has no power to enjoy them. This is not ordinary poverty. It is the more frightening poverty of having everything except the ability to receive anything as gift.
Possession and enjoyment are not the same grace. We may hold bread without tasting goodness, inhabit a house without finding rest, and be surrounded by people while remaining untouched by love. As Ecclesiastes 5 taught, joy is not hidden inside the gift like a coin in a box; God must also give the capacity to enjoy it.
In verse 7, the Hebrew word nephesh appears where the World English Bible reads “appetite.” The same word lies behind “desire” in verse 9. Nephesh can mean life, throat, breath, or the whole living self. Qoheleth pictures humanity laboring to feed the mouth while the inner throat remains forever open.
“The wandering of the desire” is therefore more than greed. It is the soul roaming among unlived lives: the career we might have had, the place we could have lived, the recognition we should have received. The “sight of the eyes” means accepting what is actually before us. Contentment begins when the soul returns from imaginary countries and becomes present to God.
Qoheleth then gives a shocking comparison: a stillborn child has more rest than a man with a hundred children, two thousand years, and no enjoyment. In the ancient world, many children, long life, and honorable burial were public signs of blessing. Family tombs preserved both bones and names. To have a hundred descendants yet no one to bury you is the collapse of every visible measure of success. Qoheleth is not diminishing the tragedy of a lost child; he is exposing the tragedy of a life that never becomes alive to goodness.
Verse 10 carries an echo of Genesis: whatever exists has already been named, and it is known that man is adam—the earth-creature formed from adamah, the ground. Adam named the animals, but he did not name or create himself. We name our plans, brands, achievements, and ambitions as though naming meant mastery. Yet our oldest name is “dust.”
This is why verse 11 warns that many words increase vanity. Even a devotional must tremble here. Eloquence cannot explain mortality away. Wisdom finally kneels.
But Christ entered our creaturely limits. He rejected the rich fool’s full barns, gave himself as bread for the unsatisfied soul, and passed through the grave that gathers rich and poor alike. In his resurrection, “one place” is no longer the final word. We need not possess life; we receive it from him.
Suggested cross-references: Genesis 2:7, Psalm 39:4–7, Luke 12:15–21, Philippians 4:11–13, 1 Timothy 6:17–19, John 6:35.
Suggested hymn: “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts”
Lord, call my wandering soul home. Free me from possessing what I cannot enjoy and chasing what you have not given. Teach me to receive today’s bread with gratitude, to remember that I am dust, and to find my lasting life in the risen Christ. Amen.
Narrated version of this devotional on Ecclesiastes Chapter 6