There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:
a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but an alien eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;
moreover it hath not seen the sun {Or, neither had any knowledge}nor known it; {Or, it is better with this than with the other}this hath rest rather than the other:
yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place?
All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? {Or, or the poor man that hath understanding, in walking before the living}or what hath the poor man, that knoweth 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 striving after wind.
{Or, Whatsoever he be, his name was given him long ago, and it is known that he is man}Whatsoever hath been, the name thereof was given long ago; and it is known what {Hebrew: Adam. See Genesis 2:7.}man is; neither can he contend with him that is mightier than he.
Seeing there are many {Or, words}things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
For who knoweth what is good for man in his life, {Hebrew: the number of days.}all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
Querverweise zu Prediger 6,3 Pred 6,3
And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant.
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath.
Behold, {Or, that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one &c.}that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, {Hebrew: the number of days.}all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion.
Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor — this is the gift of God.
And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands.
yea, {Or, better than they both is he that &c.}better than them both did I esteem him that hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.
And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the petition which was asked of Jehovah. And they went unto their own home.
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my {Or, sojournings}pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their {Or, sojournings}pilgrimage.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,As infants that never saw light.
{The Hebrew has, For.}And Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before Jehovah.
And the king commanded it so to be done: and a decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away,Like the untimely birth of a woman, {Or, like them that have not seen the sun}that hath not seen the sun.
Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and unto them that brought up the sons of Ahab, saying,
And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
The Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is {See marginal note on chapter 10:4.}betrayed! good were it {Greek: for him if that man.}for that man if he had not been born.
and of all my sons (for Jehovah hath given me many sons), he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel.
But thou art cast forth away from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch, {Or, as the raiment of those that are slain.}clothed with the slain, that are thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a dead body trodden under foot.
And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore daughters.)
Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, thou hast slain thy people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named for ever.
And Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
As arrows in the hand of a mighty man,So are the children of youth.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:They shall not be put to shame,When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Children's children are the crown of old men;And the glory of children are their fathers.