Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
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.
- KJV Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.
- 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.
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 a chasing after wind.
- Job 31:7if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
- Eccl 2:11Then I looked at all the works that my hands had worked, and at the labor that I had labored to do; and behold, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was no profit under the sun.
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
- Eccl 5:18Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.
- Eccl 3:12–13I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.
- Eccl 1:2“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
- Eccl 4:4Then I saw all the labor and achievement that is the envy of a man’s neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
- Eccl 2:22–24For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?
- Eccl 6:2a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
- Prov 30:15–16“The leach has two daughters: ‘Give, give.’ “There are three things that are never satisfied; four that don’t say, ‘Enough:’
- Jer 2:20“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.
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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 6:9 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.