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Ecclesiastes 6
International Children’s Bible
Ecclesiastes 6
International Children’s Bible
6 I have seen something else unfair here on earth. It causes serious problems for people. 2 God gives some people great wealth, riches and honor. They have everything they want. But God does not let them enjoy such things. Someone else enjoys them instead. This is unfair and senseless. 3 It is sad when a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. Such a person might have 100 children. He might live a long time. But what good is it if he can’t enjoy the good God gives him? I say a baby who is born dead is better off than he is. 4 It is useless for such a baby to be born. It ends up in the darkness of the grave without even a name. 5 That baby never saw the sun. It never knew anything. But it finds more rest than the person who never gets to enjoy the good things God gives him. 6 Even if he lives 2,000 years, it is sad if a person can’t enjoy the good things God gives him. After all, both he and the baby born dead go to the same place—the grave.
7 A person works just to feed himself.
But he never seems to get enough to eat.
8 In this way a wise man
is no better off than a foolish person.
Then, too, it does a poor man little good
to know how to get along in life.
9 So it is better to be happy with what you have
than always to be wanting more.
Always wanting more is useless—
like chasing the wind.
Who Can Understand God’s Plan?
10 Everything that happens was planned long ago.
A man is only what he was created to be.
It is useless to argue with God about it.
This is because God is more powerful than man is.
11 The more you argue,
the more useless it is.
You gain nothing at all by arguing.
12 A person has only a few days of life on the earth. His short life passes like a shadow. And who knows what is best for him while he lives? Who can tell him what will happen after his time on earth?
Ecclesiastes 6
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 6
New International Version
6 I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind: 2 God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them,(A) and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.(B)
3 A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn(C) child is better off than he.(D) 4 It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded. 5 Though it never saw the sun or knew anything, it has more rest than does that man— 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?(E)
7 Everyone’s toil is for their mouth,
yet their appetite is never satisfied.(F)
8 What advantage have the wise over fools?(G)
What do the poor gain
by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?
9 Better what the eye sees
than the roving of the appetite.
This too is meaningless,
a chasing after the wind.(H)
10 Whatever exists has already been named,(I)
and what humanity is has been known;
no one can contend
with someone who is stronger.
11 The more the words,
the less the meaning,
and how does that profit anyone?
12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days(J) they pass through like a shadow?(K) Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?
International Children’s Bible (ICB) 
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.