Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun.
Parallel translations
- WEB Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to see the sun.
- KJV Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun:
- NKJV Truly the light is sweet, And it is pleasant for the eyes to behold the sun;
- NASB The light is pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.
- NLT Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Simply being alive to enjoy God's world is a genuine good.
Overview
Qoheleth celebrates the basic gift of life and the joy of seeing daylight. After much sober reflection, he affirms that existence itself is a sweet grace. This gratitude for light prepares for his call to rejoice, and it points beyond physical light to Christ, the true light who gives life to all who follow him (Psalm 84:11; John 8:12).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 5:45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
- Eccl 7:11Wisdom, like an inheritance, is good, and it benefits those who see the sun.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
- Prov 15:30The light of the eyes cheers the heart, and good news nourishes the bones.
- Job 33:30to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.
- Prov 29:13The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The LORD gives light to the eyes of both.
- Eccl 6:5The child, though neither seeing the sun nor knowing anything, has more rest than that man,
- Ps 56:13For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
- Job 33:28He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 11:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.