| Berean Study Bible | English Standard Version |
| 1There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind: | 1There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: |
| 2God gives a man riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires; but God does not allow him to enjoy them. Instead, a stranger will enjoy them. This is futile and a grievous affliction. | 2a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity; it is a grievous evil. |
| 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. | 3If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no 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. | 4For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. |
| 5The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man, | 5Moreover, it has not seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds rest rather than he. |
| 6even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place? | 6Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy no good—do not all go to the one place? |
| 7All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied. | 7All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied. |
| 8What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others? | 8For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? |
| 9Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. | 9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind. |
| 10Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he. | 10Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. |
| 11For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone? | 11The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? |
| 12For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun? | 12For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? |
| The Berean Bible (Berean Study Bible (BSB) © 2016, 2018 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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