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?
Parallel translations
- WEB 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?
- KJV 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?
- NKJV For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?
- NASB For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person what will happen after him under the sun?
- NLT In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadow. Who can tell what will happen on this earth after we are gone?
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
Who knows what is truly good for the brief, shadow-like life of man, or what will come after him? It matters because human knowledge cannot grasp life's meaning or the future on its own.
Overview
The Preacher closes this section with humbling questions about the limits of human insight. Life is 'like a shadow' (1 Chronicles 29:15), and the future is hidden from us. These unanswerable questions expose our need for revelation from God, who alone knows the end from the beginning and who has made known the way of life in Christ (2 Timothy 1:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Jas 4:14You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Job 14:2Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
- Eccl 3:22I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
- Ps 144:4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
- Lam 3:24–27“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
- Ps 39:5–6You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Eccl 8:7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?
- Eccl 8:13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
- 1 Chr 29:15For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.
- Job 8:9For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Ps 109:23I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied in Your presence.
- Job 14:21If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.
- Ps 4:6Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD.
- Ps 90:10–12The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
- Eccl 2:3I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
- Ps 102:11My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
- Eccl 9:6Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.
- Eccl 12:13When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.
- Ps 47:4He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom He loves. Selah
- Mic 6:8He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Ps 89:47Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!
- Ps 16:5The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.
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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 6:12 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.