Ecclesiastes 6:3

Though a man should beget a hundred children, and live, many years, so that many should be the days of his years but, his own soul, should not be satisfied with the good, and he should not even have, a burial, I said, Better than he, is an untimely birth!

The Emphasised Bible by J. B. Rotherham

In The King James Version

If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.

In Context

2A man to whom God giveth riches and gains and honour, so that nothing doth he lack for his soul—of all that he craveth, and yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but, a man unknown, eateth it,—this, was vanity, and, an incurable evil, it was.

4For, in vain, it came in, and, in darkness, it departeth,—and, with darkness, its name, is covered:

Read all of Ecclesiastes 6

Cross References

Genesis 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings, have been a hundred and thirty years,—Few and evil, have been the days of the years of my life, neither have they attained unto the days of the years of the lives of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.

2 Kings 9:35So they went to bury her,—but found not of her—save the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.

1 Chronicles 28:5and, from among all my sons,—for, many sons, hath Yahweh given me,—he hath made choice of Solomon my son, to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh, over Israel.

Esther 5:11and Haman recounted unto them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children,—and all the things wherein the king had promoted him to power, and how he had advanced him, above the rulers and the servants of the king.

Esther 9:14And the king commanded it to be done so, and there was given an edict, in Shusan,—and, the ten sons of Haman, they hanged.

Job 3:16Or that, like an untimely birth hidden away, I had not come into being, like infants that never saw light:

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:2-7

The Miseries of Covetousness. 1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men: 2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease. 3 If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 6:3