Ecclesiastes Chapter 6 verse 12 Holy Bible
For who knoweth what is good for man in `his' life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in ASV
Who is able to say what is good for man in life all the days of his foolish life which he goes through like a shade? who will say what is to be after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in BBE
For who knoweth what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell man what shall be after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in DARBY
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in KJV
read chapter 6 in WBT
For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in WEB
For who knoweth what `is' good for a man in life, the number of the days of the life of his vanity, and he maketh them as a shadow? for who declareth to man what is after him under the sun?
read chapter 6 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - This verse in the Greek and Latin versions, as in some copies of the Hebrew, is divorced from its natural place, as the conclusion of the paragraph, vers. 10, 11, and is arranged as the commencement of Ecclesiastes 7. Plainly, the Divine prescience of vers. 10, 11 is closely connected with the question of man's ultimate good and his ignorance of the future, enunciated in this verse. For who knoweth what is good for man in this life? Such discussions are profitless, for man knows not what is his real good - whether pleasure, apathy, or virtue, as philosophers would put it. To decide such questions he must be able to foresee results, which is denied him. The interrogative "Who knows?" is equivalent to an emphatic negative, as Ecclesiastes 3:21, and is a common rhetorical form which surely need not be attributed to Pyrrhonism (Plumptre). All the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow. These words amplify and explain the term "in life" of the preceding clause. They may be rendered literally, During the number of the days of the life (Ecclesiastes 5:18) of his vanity, and he passeth them as a shadow. A life of vanity is one that yields no good result, full of empty aims, unsatisfied wishes, unfulfilled purposes. It is the man who is here compared to the shadow, not his life. So Job 14:2, "He fleeth as a shadow, and continueth not," He soon passes away, and leaves no trace behind him. The thought is common. "Ye [Revised Version] are a vapor," says St. James (James 4:14), "that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Plumptre well quotes Soph., 'Ajax,' 125 - ῾ορῶ γὰρ ἡμᾶς οὐδὲν ὄντας ἄλλο πλὴνΑἴδωλ ὅσοιπερ ζῶμεν η} κούφην σκιάν "In this I see that we, all we that live,Are but vain shadows, unsubstantial dreams." To which we may add Pind., 'Pyth.,' 8:95 - Ἐπάμεροι τί δέ τις τίδ οὔ τις σκιᾶς ὄναρ Ἄνθρωπος. . . .
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) As a shadow.--Ecclesiastes 8:13; Job 14:2.
