Ecclesiastes 6:12

World English Bible (2000)

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?

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Job 14:2 : 2 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
  • Eccl 3:22 : 22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?
  • Lam 3:24-27 : 24 Yahweh is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him. 25 Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. 26 It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh. 27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
  • Jas 4:14 : 14 Whereas you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
  • Eccl 8:7 : 7 For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
  • Eccl 8:13 : 13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn't fear God.
  • Ps 144:4 : 4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
  • Ps 39:5-6 : 5 Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah. 6 "Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.
  • Ps 47:4 : 4 He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
  • Ps 89:47 : 47 Remember how short my time is! For what vanity have you created all the children of men!
  • Ps 90:10-12 : 10 The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you? 12 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
  • Ps 102:11 : 11 My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
  • Ps 109:23 : 23 I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
  • Job 14:21 : 21 His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it. They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.
  • Ps 4:6 : 6 Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
  • Ps 16:5 : 5 Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.
  • Ps 17:15 : 15 As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form. For the Chief Musician. By David the servant of Yahweh, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said,
  • Eccl 2:3 : 3 I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
  • 1 Chr 29:15 : 15 For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.
  • Job 8:9 : 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
  • Eccl 9:6 : 6 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.
  • Eccl 12:13 : 13 This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
  • Mic 6:8 : 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • Eccl 6:1-11
    11 verses
    86%

    1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:

    2 a 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.

    3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial; I say, that a stillborn child is better than he:

    4 for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.

    5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.

    6 Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place?

    7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

    8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?

    9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

    10 Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

    11 For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?

  • Eccl 2:15-26
    12 verses
    83%

    15 Then I said in my heart, "As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?" Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.

    16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory for ever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

    17 So I hated life, because the work that is worked under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

    18 I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

    19 Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all of my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

    20 Therefore I began to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun.

    21 For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, with knowledge, and with skillfulness; yet he shall leave it for his portion to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil.

    22 For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart, in which he labors under the sun?

    23 For all his days are sorrows, and his travail is grief; yes, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.

    24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God.

    25 For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I?

    26 For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

  • Eccl 1:2-3
    2 verses
    82%

    2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

    3 What does man gain from all his labor in which he labors under the sun?

  • Eccl 8:6-7
    2 verses
    81%

    6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.

    7 For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

  • Eccl 3:21-22
    2 verses
    80%

    21 Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, whether it goes downward to the earth?"

    22 Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works; for that is his portion: for who can bring him to see what will be after him?

  • Eccl 8:17
    79%

    17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't be able to find it.

  • Eccl 3:12
    79%

    12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live.

  • Eccl 11:8
    78%

    8 Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

  • Ps 144:4
    78%

    4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

  • Ps 39:6
    78%

    6 "Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.

  • Eccl 2:11-12
    2 verses
    77%

    11 Then 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.

    12 I turned myself to consider wisdom, madness, and folly: for what can the king's successor do? Just that which has been done long ago.

  • Eccl 12:8
    77%

    8 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher. "All is vanity!"

  • Eccl 4:16
    76%

    16 There was no end of all the people, even of all them over whom he was--yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

  • Eccl 3:19
    76%

    19 For that which happens to the sons of men happens to animals. Even one thing happens to them. As the one dies, so the other dies. Yes, they have all one breath; and man has no advantage over the animals: for all is vanity.

  • Eccl 5:16
    76%

    16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

  • Eccl 8:15
    76%

    15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

  • Eccl 1:14
    76%

    14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

  • Eccl 9:9-10
    2 verses
    75%

    9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

    10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

  • Eccl 5:18
    75%

    18 Behold, 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 4:3
    75%

    3 Yes, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

  • Eccl 9:3
    75%

    3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

  • Eccl 4:8
    75%

    8 There is one who is alone, and he has neither son nor brother. There is no end to all of his labor, neither are his eyes satisfied with wealth. "For whom then, do I labor, and deprive my soul of enjoyment?" This also is vanity. Yes, it is a miserable business.

  • Eccl 9:1
    74%

    1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.

  • Jas 4:14
    74%

    14 Whereas you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.