Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 6:3
A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Teacher addresses readers of Ecclesiastes while concluding his reflection on unenjoyed wealth from the preceding verse. He contrasts a long, prosperous life with the lack of a proper burial to illustrate the relative value of existence.
The words — The verb יוֹלִ֣יד (yo.Lid) translates literally as "he will father," establishing the premise of extensive progeny. The conditional particle אִם־ ('im-) introduces the critical stipulation that prosperity without satisfaction or burial reverses the expected blessing.
The thread — This comparison to a stillborn child echoes the Teacher’s earlier declaration that one who has not yet existed is better off (Ecclesiastes 4:3). It aligns with Job’s wish to have been hidden like a stillborn infant (Job 3:16) and the stark imagery of an unburied corpse in 2 Kings 9:35.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers assess whether prolonged life and wealth retain value when stripped of enjoyment and postmortem honor. It presents a direct calculation that existence without satisfaction or burial is worse than never having lived at all.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
Cross-references
- Job 3:16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?
- 2 Kings 9:35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands.
- Ecclesiastes 4:3 But better than both is he who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil that is done under the sun.
- Jeremiah 22:19 He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
- Genesis 47:9 “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”
- Isaiah 14:19 But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.
- Genesis 33:5 When Esau looked up and saw the women and children, he asked, “Who are these with you?” Jacob answered, “These are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
- 1 Samuel 2:20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
- 2 Kings 10:1 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying:
- 1 Chronicles 28:5 And of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—He has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.