Ecclesiastes 6:3

Parents and children Death and loss Contentment

¹ There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:

² God 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.

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.

⁴ For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.

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

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: 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.
WEB: If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he;
ASV: If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
DARBY: If a man beget a hundred [sons], and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, but his soul be not filled with good, and also he have no burial, I say an untimely birth is better than he.
BLB: If a man begets a hundred and lives many years, and many are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from this goodness, and also not is unto him a grave, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

ÅB: Om en mann får hundre barn og lever i mange år, så tallet på hans levedager blir stort, men hans sjel ikke mettes av det gode, og han heller ikke får noen jordeferd, da sier jeg: Et ufullbåret foster er bedre faren enn han.
OTB: Om en mann har hundre barn og lever mange år, uansett hvor lenge, men han ikke kan nyte sin rikdom og ikke får en skikkelig begravelse, da sier jeg at et dødfødt barn har det bedre enn han.
B1930: Om en mann får hundre barn og lever i mange år, så tallet på hans levedager blir stort, men hans sjel ikke mettes av det gode, og han heller ikke får nogen jordeferd, da sier jeg: Et ufullbåret foster er bedre faren enn han.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Job 3:16
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 4:3
But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
Read in context
2 Kings 9:35
But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
Read in context
Jeremiah 22:19
He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
Read in context
Genesis 47:9
“My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
Read in context
Isaiah 14:19–20
But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
Read in context
Matthew 26:24
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
Read in context
Esther 5:11
Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.
Read in context