Ecclesiastes 6 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 6
Hebrew source [BHS6] • Greek source [LXX6]
Possessions without enjoyment (6:1–12)
Verse 6:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:1] There is an evil I have seen beneath the sun, and it weighs heavily upon human beings:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:1] There is an evil I have seen beneath the sun, and it is great upon human beings:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce a burdensome condition.
Verse 6:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:2] a person to whom God gives wealth, possessions and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing it desires, yet God does not empower him to eat from it; instead, a stranger eats it. This is vapor and a grievous sickness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:2] a person to whom God gives wealth, possessions and glory, so that his soul lacks nothing it desires, yet God does not empower him to eat from it, for a stranger will eat it. This is futility and a grievous sickness.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The possession–enjoyment distinction reverses the favorable case at 5:18. Vapor and futility remain distinct.
Verse 6:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:3] If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however numerous the days of his years, but his soul is not satisfied with good and he has no burial, I say a stillborn child is better off than he.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:3] If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however numerous the days of his years, but his soul is not filled with goodness and he has no burial, I say a stillborn child is better off than he,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Children is the implied object of fathers a hundred. The stark comparison is retained as the speaker's assessment, not expanded into a general valuation of lives.
Verse 6:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:4] For it comes in vapor and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:4] for it came in futility and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name will be covered,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The recurring central nouns differ; the darkness and forgotten name agree.
Verse 6:5 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:5] Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, it has more rest than he.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:5] and though it has not seen the sun or known anything, it has more rest than he.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Anything supplies the implicit object of known. The comparison continues to the man described at 6:3.
Verse 6:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:6] Even if he lived a thousand years twice over but saw no good, do not all go to one place?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:6] Even if he lived through courses of a thousand years but saw no goodness, do not all go to one place?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew explicitly says twice; Greek kathodous, literally descents or courses, does not give that number. The Greek plural is retained without inserting two.
Verse 6:7 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:7] All a person's toil is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not filled.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:7] All a person's toil is for his mouth, yet his appetite will not be filled.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Appetite renders nephesh/psyche in the food-and-desire context, preserving their bodily dimension.
Verse 6:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:8] For what advantage has the wise person over the fool? What has the poor person who knows how to walk before the living?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:8] For what advantage has the wise person over the fool? For the poor person knows how to walk before life.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew asks a second question and has the living; Greek gives a statement introduced by for and the singular life.
Verse 6:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:9] Better what the eyes see than the wandering of appetite. This too is vapor and pursuit of wind.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:9] Better a sight for the eyes than wandering in appetite. This too is futility and resolve of spirit.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The contrast between present sight and roaming desire agrees; the final refrain differs.
Verse 6:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:10] Whatever has been already has its name, and it is known that a person is human; he cannot contend with one stronger than himself.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:10] Whatever has come to be already has its name, and it is known what a human being is; he cannot contend in judgment with one stronger than himself.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek's judgment verb makes the contest more juridical. Neither column names the stronger one explicitly, though a divine reference is possible in context.
Verse 6:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:11] For many words increase vapor; what advantage has a person?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:11] For many words increase futility; what advantage has a person?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew devarim may also mean things; words corresponds to the explicit Greek logoi here. The keynote nouns remain distinct.
Verse 6:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[6:12] For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the numbered days of his vaporous life, which he spends like a shadow? Who can tell a person what will be after him beneath the sun?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[6:12] For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the numbered days of his life of futility? He has spent them in a shadow. Who can tell a person what will be after him beneath the sun?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew like a shadow becomes Greek in a shadow, with the sentence division retained. The question of the unknown future remains.