Ecclesiastes 6:4
New International Version
It comes without meaning, it departs in darkness, and in darkness its name is shrouded.

New Living Translation
His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name,

English Standard Version
For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.

Berean Standard Bible
For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.

King James Bible
For he cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

New King James Version
for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

New American Standard Bible
for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness.

NASB 1995
for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

NASB 1977
for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

Legacy Standard Bible
for that one comes in vanity and goes into darkness; and that one’s name is covered in darkness.

Amplified Bible
for the miscarriage comes in futility (in vain) and passes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity.

Christian Standard Bible
For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For he comes in futility and he goes in darkness, and his name is shrouded in darkness.

American Standard Version
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because he came in futility and in darkness he will go, and in darkness his name will be hidden

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For he came in vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered in darkness.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For he came in vain, and goeth to darkness, and his name shall be wholly forgotten.

English Revised Version
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
A stillborn baby arrives in a pointless birth and goes out into the darkness. The darkness then hides its name.

Good News Translation
It does that baby no good to be born; it disappears into darkness, where it is forgotten.

International Standard Version
because stillborn children arrive in pointlessness, leave in darkness, and their names are covered in darkness.

JPS Tanakh 1917
for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;

Literal Standard Version
For in vanity he came in, and in darkness he goes, and in darkness his name is covered,

Majority Standard Bible
For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.

New American Bible
Though it came in vain and goes into darkness and its name is enveloped in darkness,

NET Bible
Though the stillborn child came into the world for no reason and departed into darkness, though its name is shrouded in darkness,

New Revised Standard Version
For it comes into vanity and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered;

New Heart English Bible
for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

Webster's Bible Translation
For he cometh with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

World English Bible
for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

Young's Literal Translation
For in vanity he came in, and in darkness he goeth, and in darkness his name is covered,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Futility of Life
3A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. 4For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity. 5The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,…

Cross References
Ecclesiastes 6:3
A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

Ecclesiastes 6:5
The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,


Treasury of Scripture

For he comes in with vanity, and departs in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.

his name

Psalm 109:13
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.

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Covered Dark Darkness Departeth Departs Futility Goes Meaning Obscurity Shrouded Thereof Vanity Wind
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Covered Dark Darkness Departeth Departs Futility Goes Meaning Obscurity Shrouded Thereof Vanity Wind
Ecclesiastes 6
1. the vanity of riches without use
3. though a man have many children and a long life
7. the vanity of sight and wandering desires
10. The conclusion of vanities














(4) He.--Rather, it--viz., the untimely birth.

Verse 4. - For he cometh in with vanity; rather, for it came into nothingness. The reference is to the fetus, or still-born child, not to the rich man, as is implied by the Authorized Version. This, when it appeared, had no independent life or being, was a mere nothing. And departeth in darkness; and goeth into the darkness. It is taken away and put out of sight. And his (its) name shall be covered with darkness. It is a nameless thing, unrecorded, unremembered.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

he enters
בָּ֖א (bā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

in futility
בַהֶ֥בֶל (ḇa·he·ḇel)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory

and departs
יֵלֵ֑ךְ (yê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in darkness,
וּבַחֹ֣שֶׁךְ (ū·ḇa·ḥō·šeḵ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

and his name
שְׁמ֥וֹ (šə·mōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 8034: A name

is shrouded
יְכֻסֶּֽה׃ (yə·ḵus·seh)
Verb - Pual - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3680: To plump, fill up hollows, to cover

in obscurity.
וּבַחֹ֖שֶׁךְ (ū·ḇa·ḥō·šeḵ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 6:4 For it comes in vanity and departs (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 6:3
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