The Futility of Life 1 UDB I have seen something else here on this earth that troubles people. BSB BSB: There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
2 UDB God enables some people to receive a lot of money and possessions and to be honored by him. They have everything that they want. But God sometimes does not allow them to enjoy those things. Someone else gets them and enjoys them. That seems senseless and unfair. BSB BSB: 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.
3 UDB Someone might have a hundred children and live for many years. But if he is not able to enjoy the things that he has acquired, and if he is not buried properly after he dies, I say that a child that is dead when it is born is more fortunate. BSB 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.
4 UDB This is true, even though that dead baby's birth is meaningless—even though it does not have a name, and its brief life becomes only a sad memory in the future. BSB BSB: For a stillborn child enters in futility and departs in darkness, and his name is shrouded in obscurity.
5 UDB That baby does not live to see the sun or know anything. But even so, it finds more rest than rich people do who are alive. BSB BSB: The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
6 UDB Even if people should live for two thousand years, if they do not enjoy the things that God gives to them, it would have been better for them never to have been born. All people who live a long time certainly all go to the same place—to the grave. BSB BSB: even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?
7 UDB People work hard to earn enough money to buy food to eat, but often they never get enough to eat. BSB BSB: All a man’s labor is for his mouth, yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 UDB So it seems that wise people do not receive more lasting benefits than foolish people do. And it seems that poor people do not benefit from knowing how to conduct their lives. BSB BSB: What advantage, then, has the wise man over the fool? What gain comes to the poor man who knows how to conduct himself before others?
9 UDB It is better to enjoy the things that we already have than to constantly want more things. Continually wanting more things is senseless, like trying to control the wind. BSB BSB: Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
10 UDB All the things that exist on the earth have been given names. Everyone knows what people are like, so it is useless to argue with God, who is stronger than we are. BSB BSB: Whatever exists was named long ago, and it is known what man is; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.
11 UDB The more that we talk, the more often we say things that are senseless, so it certainly does not benefit us to talk a lot. BSB BSB: For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
12 UDB No human being can know everything that is good for himself in this life. People live for a few seemingly meaningless days. Life passes by quickly, like a shadow, and no one know what is coming after we die. We live for only a short time, and then we disappear like a vapor. BSB BSB: For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.