Ecclesiastes 6:5
in Ecclesiastes 6The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:
KJV
Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known any thing: this hath more rest than the other.
⋯
This verse in Ecclesiastes 6
Commentary
9 notes on this verseOn account of the inexperience of good, he adds: "he does not see the sun," in which namely there is delight and experience of good, according to what is said below in the eleventh chapter: "The light is sweet, and it is delightful for the …
This site's exposition
A man may father a hundred children
on Ecclesiastes 6:3-6
The case grows harsher: a man may father a hundred children, yet if he is unsatisfied and unburied, a stillborn child is better than he. The stillborn enters in futility and departs in darkness, yet has more rest than that man, though he lived a thousand years twice over.
This site's exposition
has more rest than that man
Gill observes that the stillborn child never saw the sun and so never missed its comfort. Henry counts its knowing nothing a real loss, the lack of man's greatest pleasure and honor. Barnes gives the rest to the child over the rich man.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"There is an evil I have observed beneath the sun, and it is prevalent among mankind; a man to whom God has given riches, wealth and honour, and he lacks nothing that his heart could desire, yet God did not give him the power to enjoy it. This is futility and an evil disease. If a man begets an hundred children and lives many years - great being the days of his life - and his soul is not content with the good - and he even is deprived of burial; I say: the stillborn is better off than he.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
): He comes in with vanity (for, as to this world, he that is born and dies immediately was born in vain), and he departs in darkness; little or no notice is taken of him; being an abortive, he has no name, or, if he had, it would soon be forgotten and buried in oblivion; it would be covered with darkness, as the body is with the earth.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
), he has not seen the sun, but from the darkness of the womb he is hurried immediately to that of the grave, and, which is worse than not being known to any, he has not known any thing, and therefore has come short of that which is the greatest pleasure and honour of man.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Moreover, he hath not seen the sun,.... This must be spoken of the abortive, and seems to confirm the sense of the former text, as belonging to it; and whereas it has never seen the light of the sun, nor enjoyed the pleasure and comfort of it, it is no ways distressing to it to be without it.
He describes his folly in not taking the comfort of it; he has no power to eat of it, lets strangers devour it, is never filled with good, and at last has no burial,
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rather, it hath not seen nor known the sun: this (the untimely birth) hath rest rather than the other.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ | shemesh | [the] sun | H8121 → | 134 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| רָאָ֖ה | raah | it saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדָ֑ע | yada' | it knew | H3045 → | 945 times |
| נַ֥חַת | nachat | rest | H5183 → | 7 times |
| לָזֶ֖ה | lazeh | [belongs] to this one | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| מִזֶּֽה׃ | mizeh | more than this one | H2088 → | 1180 times |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ[the] sun
shemeshH8121 →134 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
רָאָ֖הit saw
raahH7200 →1300 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יָדָ֑עit knew
yada'H3045 →945 times
נַ֥חַתrest
nachatH5183 →7 times
לָזֶ֖ה[belongs] to this one
lazehH2088 →1180 times
מִזֶּֽה׃more than this one
mizehH2088 →1180 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 14:1“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
it leads to
- Job 5:7
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
- Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.
- Matthew 11:11
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
- Job 7:1
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- Job 5:7
Through
Psalms 58:8Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
it leads to
- Job 3:16
Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
- Ecclesiastes 6:3
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,…
- Psalms 37:35–36
I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,
- Job 3:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ecclesiastes
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 6; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.