Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
Parallel translations
- WEB Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- BSB Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- NKJV Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind.
- NASB What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and striving after wind.
- NLT Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
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
Better to enjoy what is before your eyes than to wander after restless desire; this too is vanity. It matters because contentment with present blessings beats the endless chase of craving.
Overview
The Preacher commends a 'bird in hand' wisdom: be satisfied with what you have rather than roam after insatiable wants. Yet he honestly notes that even this contentment is touched by vanity in a fleeting world. The counsel commends grateful enjoyment of present gifts, a posture deepened by the gospel call to godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Job 31:7If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
- Eccl 2:11Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
- Eccl 5:18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.
- Eccl 3:12–13I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.
- Eccl 1:2Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
- Eccl 4:4Again, I considered all travail, and every right work, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. This is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Eccl 2:22–24For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?
- Eccl 6:2A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
- Prov 30:15–16The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough:
- Jer 2:20For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 6:9 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.