Ecclesiastes or Preacher 06 It is lawful to enjoy the good things God has given, but these cannot satisfy the soul.

 Ecclesiastes or Preacher 06

It is lawful to enjoy the good things God has given, but these cannot satisfy the soul.

1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is very common among men:

2 A man to whom God has given riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that his soul desires, yet God does not give him the power to eat, but a stranger eats it. This also is vanity and a grievous disease.

3 If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, and the days of his years are many, and his soul is not satisfied with good, and he has no burial, I say that a miscarriage is better than he.

4 For he came in vain, and departs in darkness, and his name is covered with darkness.

5 And though he has never seen the sun, nor known them, he has more rest than that man.

6 And even if a man lived a thousand years twice over, yet did not enjoy good things, do they not all go to the same place?

7 All a man's labor is for his mouth, and yet his greed is never satisfied.

8 For what more has a wise man than a fool? And what more has a poor man who knows how to walk before the living?

9 The sight of the eyes is better than the wandering of greed; this also is vanity and a vexation of spirit.

10 Whoever he is, his name has been given, and it is known that he is a man, and that he cannot contend with one stronger than he.

11 Since there are many things that increase vanity, what more does a man have than anything better?

12 For who knows what is good for a man in this life, all the days of his vanity which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?