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Ecclesiastes 6:6

in Ecclesiastes 6

even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place?

KJV

Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

This verse in Ecclesiastes 6

Commentary

11 notes on this verse
Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told,.... Or two thousand years, which no man ever did, nor even one thousand years; Methuselah, the oldest man, did not live so long as that; this is than twice the age of the oldest man: there is one sort of the Ethiopians, who are said (a) to live almost half space of time longer than usual, called from thence Macrobii; which Pliny (b) makes to be one hundred and forty years, which is just double the common term of life. This here is only a supposition.

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

a thousand years twice over

Gill notes that two thousand years is more than twice Methuselah's age, a supposition beyond any real life. Long life without enjoyment is lengthened misery, in the words of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown. Henry names the common place as the grave.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ecclesiastes · Written before 420.

proposed

"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 Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bonaventure

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 6 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

Therefore he says: "Even if he should live two thousand years," because we do not have knowledge through length of time, but through experience: Sirach 34: "He who has not been tested knows few things," according to what the Philosopher says: "Experience produced art, inexperience …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

He that lives a thousand years goes to the same place with the child that does not live an hour, ch. iii. The grave is the place we shall all meet in. Whatever differences there may be in men's condition in this world, they must all die, are all under the same sentence, and, to outward appearance, their deaths are alike.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Tho' he live - Wherein he seems to have a privilege above an untimely birth. Seen - He hath enjoyed no comfort in it, and therefore long life is rather a curse, than a blessing to him.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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,
3 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The preference which the preacher gives to an untimely birth before him: An untimely birth, a child that is carried from the womb to the grave, is better than he. Better is the fruit that drops from the tree before it is ripe than that which is left to hang on till it is rotten.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

If the miser's length of "life" be thought to raise him above the abortive, Solomon answers that long life, without enjoying real good, is but lengthened misery, and riches cannot exempt him from going whither "all go." He is fit neither for life, nor death, nor eternity.
He live - Rather, he hath lived. “He” refers to the man Ecc 6:3. His want of satisfaction in life, and the dishonor done to his corpse, are regarded as such great evils that they counterbalance his numerous children, and length of days, and render his lot viewed as a whole no better than the common lot of all.

The words behind it

14 Hebrew words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Hebrews 9:27

    Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

    it leads to

    • 2 Corinthians 5:10

      For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

    • Ecclesiastes 12:7

      before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

    • Ecclesiastes 12:14

      For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

    • Acts 17:31

      For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”

    • 2 Samuel 14:14

      For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one…

  • Through

    Job 1:21

    saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

    it leads to

    • Ecclesiastes 5:15

      As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.

    • 1 Timothy 6:7

      For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 12:7

    before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 3:19

      By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

Where this verse is studied

About Ecclesiastes

King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
King Solomon in Old Age, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ecclesiastes; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.