Ecclesiastes 6:3

Ecclesiastes 6:3 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
• English Standard Version (ESV)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 satisfied with life's good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
• New King James Version (NKJV)If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he—

Context of Ecclesiastes 6:3

1There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men: 2one to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honour, and 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 a sore evil. 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. 4For it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness; 5moreover it hath not seen nor known the sun: this hath rest rather than the other.

Ecclesiastes 6:3 word by word

אִם־יוֹלִ֣יד אִ֣ישׁ מֵאָ֡ה וְשָׁנִים֩ רַבּ֨וֹת יִֽחְיֶ֜ה וְרַ֣ב׀ שֶׁיִּהְי֣וּ יְמֵֽי־שָׁנָ֗יו וְנַפְשׁוֹ֙ לֹא־תִשְׂבַּ֣ע מִן־הַטּוֹבָ֔ה וְגַם־קְבוּרָ֖ה לֹא־הָ֣יְתָה לּ֑וֹ אָמַ֕רְתִּי ט֥וֹב מִמֶּ֖נּוּ הַנָּֽפֶל׃Read the interlinear

• manאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
• hundredמֵאָהmê'âh mê'yâh · hundredH3967
• liveחָיָהchâyâh · to liveH2421
• manyרַבrab · manyH7227
• yearsשָׁנָהshâneh shânâh · yearH8141
• daysיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• beהָיָהhâyâh · to beH1961
• soulנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soulH5315
• goodטוֹבָהţôb · welfareH2896
• alsoגַּםgam · alsoH1571
• burialקְבֻרָהqebûrâh qebûrâh · tombH6900
• sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
• birthיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
• betterטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 6:3

• Genesis 33:5And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children that God has graciously given thy servant.
• 1 Samuel 2:20And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to Jehovah. And they went to their own home.
• 2 Kings 10:1Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the princes of Jizreel, to the elders, and to Ahab's guardians, saying,
• 1 Chronicles 28:5and of all my sons, (for Jehovah has given me many sons,) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel.
• 2 Chronicles 11:21And Rehoboam loved Maachah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines; for he had taken eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
• Esther 5:11And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
• Psalms 127:4As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.
• Proverbs 17:6Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
• Genesis 47:9And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they do not attain to the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojourning.
• 2 Kings 9:35And they went to bury her; but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of the hands.
• Esther 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. And the king's wrath was appeased.
• Esther 9:14And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
• Isaiah 14:19but thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, covered with the slain — those thrust through with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit: like a carcase trodden under foot.
• Jeremiah 22:19He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, dragged along and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
• Jeremiah 36:30Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.
• Ecclesiastes 4:3and more fortunate than both is he who hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 6:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3If a man beget a hundred children - If he have the most numerous family and the largest possessions, and is so much attached to his riches that he grudges himself a monument; an abortion in the eye of reason is to be preferred to such a man; himself is contemptible, and his life worthless. The abortion comes in with vanity - baulks expectation, departs in darkness - never opened its eyes upon the light, and its name is covered with darkness - it has no…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3No burial - For a corpse to lie unburied was a circumstance in itself of special ignominy and dishonor (compare the marginal references).Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-6a hundred children and live for many years: The blessings of old age and children mean nothing if life is not enjoyable or does not end well with a proper burial. It is better to be stillborn than to live a life full of unhappiness.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Even if a man (of this character) have very many (equivalent to "a hundred," 2Ki 10:1) children, and not have a "stranger" as his heir (Ec 6:2), and live long ("days of years" express the brevity of life at its best, Ge 47:9), yet enjoy no real "good" in life, and lie unhonored, without "burial," at death (2Ki 9:26, 35), the embryo is better than he. In the East to be without burial is the greatest degradation. "Better the fruit that drops from the…Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 6:3

• Old Age

In the dictionaries

• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 6

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings