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?
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?
- 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?
- 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 4:14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- Job 14:2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- Eccl 3:22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?
- Ps 144:4Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.
- Lam 3:24–27The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
- Ps 39:5–6Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Eccl 8:7For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
- Eccl 8:13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
- 1 Chr 29:15For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
- Job 8:9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
- Ps 109:23I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
- Job 14:21His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
- Ps 4:6There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
- Ps 90:10–12The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
- Eccl 2:3I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life.
- Ps 102:11My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
- Eccl 9:6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
- Eccl 12:13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
- Ps 47:4He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
- Mic 6:8He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Ps 16:5The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
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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.