Ecclesiastes 6:9

Ecclesiastes 6:9 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.

Context of Ecclesiastes 6:9

7Everyone’s toil is for their mouth, yet their appetite is never satisfied. 8What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others? Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 10Whatever exists has already been named, and what humanity is has been known; no one can contend with someone who is stronger. 11The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?

Ecclesiastes 6:9 word by word

ט֛וֹב מַרְאֵ֥ה עֵינַ֖יִם מֵֽהֲלָךְ־נָ֑פֶשׁ גַּם־זֶ֥ה הֶ֖בֶל וּרְע֥וּת רֽוּחַ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Betterטוֹבţôb · pleasantH2896
• the sightמַרְאֶהmar'eh · appearanceH4758
• of the eyesעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869
• than the wanderingהָלַךְhâlak · to go: walkH1980
• of the desireנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: appetiteH5315
• also vanityהֶ֫בֶלhebel hăbêl · vanityH1892
• and vexationרְעוּתre‛ûth · longingH7469
• of spiritרוּחַrûach · spirit: breathH7307

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 6:9

• Ecclesiastes 2:24A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
• Ecclesiastes 3:12I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.
• Ecclesiastes 5:18This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot.
• Job 31:7if my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, or if my hands have been defiled,
• Proverbs 30:15“The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. “There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
• Jeremiah 2:20“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.
• Ecclesiastes 6:2God gives some people wealth, possessions and honor, so that they lack nothing their hearts desire, but God does not grant them the ability to enjoy them, and strangers enjoy them instead. This is meaningless, a grievous evil.
• Ecclesiastes 1:2“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
• Ecclesiastes 2:11Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
• Ecclesiastes 4:4And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 6:9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire - This is translated by the Vulgate, as a sort of adage: Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias, "It is better to see what one desires than to covet what one knows not." It is better to enjoy the present than to feed one's self with vain desires of the future. What we translate the wandering of desire, נפש מהלך mehaloch nephesh, is the travelling of the soul. What is…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7-9Verses 7-9 Connect these verses with Ecclesiastes 6:2-3: “All labor is undertaken with a view to some profit, but as a rule the people who labor are never satisfied. What advantage then has he who labors if (being rich) he is wise, or if being poor he knows how to conduct himself properly; what advantage have such laborers above a fool? (None, so far as they are without contentment, for) a thing present before the eyes is preferable to a future which…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-12Verses 7-12 A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as well as the richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8-9What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool?: They have an advantage if they enjoy and are content with what the Lord has given them.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. Answer to the question in Ec 6:8. This is the advantage: Better is the sight of the eyes--the wise man's godly enjoyment of present seen blessings than the (fool's) wandering--literally, walking (Psa 73:9), of the desire, that is, vague, insatiable desires for what he has not (Ec 6:7; He 13:5). this--restless wandering of desire, and not enjoying contentedly the present (1Ti 6:6, 8).Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 6:9

• Contentment

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