Ecclesiastes 11:8
If a man lives for many years, and if he has rejoiced in all of these, he must remember the many days of the dark times, which, when they will have arrived, will accuse the past of vanity.
Catholic Public Domain Version
In The King James Version
In Context
7Light is pleasant, and it is delightful for the eyes to see the sun.
Cross References
Job 10:21before I depart and return no more to a land that is dark and covered with the fog of death,
Job 14:10Truly, when a man dies, and has been left unprotected, and has decayed, I ask you where is he?
Job 15:23When he moves himself to seek bread, he knows that the day of darkness has been prepared for his hand.
Psalms 49:20Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and you set up a scandal against your mother’s son.
Ecclesiastes 2:15And I said in my heart: “If the death of both the foolish and myself will be one, how does it benefit me, if I have given myself more thoroughly to the work of wisdom?” And as I was speaking within my own mind, I perceived that this, too, is emptiness.
Ecclesiastes 2:19though I know not whether he will be wise or foolish. And yet he will have power over my labors, in which I have toiled and been anxious. And is there anything else so empty?
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 11:8-10
A Caution to the Young; Exhortation to Early Piety. 7 Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: 8 But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into… Read the whole commentary →