Their 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
- KJV Also 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.
- NKJV Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; Nevermore will they have a share In anything done under the sun.
- NASB Indeed their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.
- NLT Whatever they did in their lifetime—loving, hating, envying—is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.
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
The dead person's loves, hatreds, and envies have perished, and they have no further share in anything done under the sun. Earthly passions and pursuits all end at death.
Overview
Continuing his meditation on death, Qoheleth notes that the strong emotions and rivalries of life cease and the dead have no portion in earthly affairs. The phrase 'under the sun' marks his earthly perspective. This sober finality presses the question of what lies beyond, answered in the resurrection hope secured by Christ (1 Corinthians 15:19-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 146:3–4Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Matt 2:20“Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are now dead.”
- Eccl 6:12For 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?
- Job 3:17–18There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.
- Prov 10:28The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectations of the wicked will perish.
- Eccl 2:18–23I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
- Exod 1:8Then a new king, who did not know Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:6 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.