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Ecclesiastes 9:6

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.
Ecclesiastes 9:6 · King James Version
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.
  • BSB 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.
  • 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, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
  • Matt 2:20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.
  • Eccl 6:12For 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?
  • Job 3:17–18There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
  • Prov 10:28The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
  • Eccl 2:18–23Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.
  • Exod 1:8Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ecclesiastes videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ecclesiastes 9:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EcclesiastesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 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.