Ecclesiastes 6:6

6:6 if he should live a thousand years twice, yet does not enjoy his prosperity.

For both of them die! ¹ 

Ecclesiastes 6:10

The Futile Way Life Works

6:10 Whatever has happened was foreordained, ² 

and what happens to a person ³  was also foreknown.

It is useless for him to argue with God about his fate

because God is more powerful than he is. ⁴ 

[6:6]  ¹ tn Heb “Do not all go to the same place?” The rhetorical question is an example of erotesis of positive affirmation, expecting a positive answer, e.g., Ps 56:13 [14] (see E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 947). It affirms the fact that both the miserly rich man who lives two thousand years, as well as the stillborn who never lived one day, both go to the same place – the grave. And if the miserly rich man never enjoyed the fruit of his labor during his life, his fate was no better than that of the stillborn who never had opportunity to enjoy any of the blessings of life. In a sense, it would have been better for the miserly rich man to have never lived than to have experienced the toil, anxiety, and misery of accumulating his wealth, but never enjoying any of the fruits of his labor.

[6:10]  ² tn Heb “already its name was called.”

[6:10]  ³ tn Or “and what a person (Heb “man”) is was foreknown.”

[6:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “he cannot contend with the one who is more powerful than him.” The referent of the “the one who is more powerful than he is” (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The words “with God about his fate” have been added for clarity as well.