Ecclesiastes 6:12
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, the number of the days of his vain life, that he should spend them as a shadow? for who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Leeser Tanakh
In The King James Version
In Context
11For there are many things that increase vanity: what advantage [cometh thence] for man?
Cross References
Job 8:9For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because a [mere] shadow are our days upon earth;—
Job 14:21His children acquire honor, but he knoweth it not: and they are esteemed little, but he perceiveth nothing of them.
Psalms 16:5Thou, O Lord, art the portion of my inheritance, and my cup; thou hast drawn my lot.
Psalms 39:5(39:6) Behold, measured out with the span hast thou made my days; and my whole duration is nothing before thee: yea, as nothing but vanity doth every man stand here. Selah.
Psalms 89:47(89:48) Remember [what] I am, what my duration is [here], for what nothingness thou hast created all sons of men!
Psalms 102:11(102:12) My days are like a shadow that declineth; and like the herb I wither.
Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:12
The Insatiableness of Desire. 11 Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? 12 For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, 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? Here, 1. Solomon lays down his conclusion which he had undertaken to prove, as that which was fully confirmed by the foregoing discourse: There be many things that increase vanity; the life of man is vain, at the best, and there are… Read the whole commentary →