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The Futility of Life
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men:
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men:
There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity.
one to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and a sore evil.
God 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.
If a man beget a hundred [sons], and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.
A 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.
For it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness;
His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name,
moreover it hath not seen nor known the sun: this hath rest rather than the other.
and 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.
Yea, though he live twice a thousand years, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?
He 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?
All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough.
For what advantage hath the wise above the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?
So 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?
Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.
Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless — like chasing the wind.
That which is hath already been named; and what man is, is known, and that he cannot contend with him that is mightier than he.
The Future — Determined and Unknown
Everything 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.
For there are many things that increase vanity: what is man advantaged?
The more words you speak, the less they mean. So what good are they?
For who knoweth what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell man what shall be after him under the sun?
In 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?