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Journey of a Passage

Ecclesiastes 6:10–12

"Who knoweth what is good for man?"

The closing questions of the book's first half: what exists is already named; humans cannot contend with "one mightier"; who knows what is good in a life spent like a shadow, or what comes after? Greek and Latin Bibles number 6:12 as 7:1. The Hebrew has a ketiv/qere note in 6:10. The Qumran fragment 4Q109 is reported to preserve part of 6:12.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The book as first writtenOften dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)
  2. 4Q109 (4QQoh-a), Qumran Cave 4mid-2nd century BC (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The book as first written
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The book as first written
Greek
  1. Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872Translated from the Greek Ecclesiastes
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Often dated 4th–3rd century BC (debated)

    The book as first written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest Hebrew copies of Ecclesiastes are two Qumran fragments, 4Q109 (4QQoh-a, mid-2nd century BC, reported) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b, reported).

  2. mid-2nd century BC (reported)

    4Q109 (4QQoh-a), Qumran Cave 4

    ⓘ Reports what manuscripts containedDescends, through lost copies, from The book as first written

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Among the oldest biblical manuscripts. Reported to preserve parts of 5:13–17; 6:1?, 3–8, 12; 7:1–10, 19–20 (6:12 here). Exact readings: C check against DJD XVI (EC-C03).

  3. Jerome c. AD 398, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Qui futurus est, jam vocatum est nomen ejus; et scitur quod homo sit, et non possit contra fortiorem se in judicio contendere. Verba sunt plurima, multamque in disputando habentia vanitatem. Quid necesse est homini majora se quærere, cum ignoret quid conducat sibi in vita sua, numero dierum peregrinationis suæ, et tempore quod velut umbra præterit? aut quis ei poterit indicare quod post eum futurum sub sole sit?

    Latin numbering: Ecclesiastes 6:10–7:1. Jerome translated Ecclesiastes from Hebrew (c. AD 398), after writing a commentary on it (c. 388); the Vulgate is an indirect witness to a Hebrew text, with Jerome's interpretation.

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The book as first written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    מַה־שֶּֽׁהָיָ֗ה כְּבָר֙ נִקְרָ֣א שְׁמ֔וֹ וְנוֹדָ֖ע אֲשֶׁר־ה֣וּא אָדָ֑ם וְלֹא־יוּכַ֣ל לָדִ֔ין עִ֥ם שהתקיף שֶׁתַּקִּ֖יף מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ כִּ֛י יֵשׁ־דְּבָרִ֥ים הַרְבֵּ֖ה מַרְבִּ֣ים הָ֑בֶל מַה־יֹּתֵ֖ר לָאָדָֽם׃ כִּ֣י מִֽי־יוֹדֵעַ֩ מַה־טּ֨וֹב לָֽאָדָ֜ם בַּֽחַיִּ֗ים מִסְפַּ֛ר יְמֵי־חַיֵּ֥י הֶבְל֖וֹ וְיַעֲשֵׂ֣ם כַּצֵּ֑ל אֲשֶׁר֙ מִֽי־יַגִּ֣יד לָֽאָדָ֔ם מַה־יִּהְיֶ֥ה אַחֲרָ֖יו תַּ֥חַת הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ׃

    For who knows what is good for a human in life, the number of days of his breath-life, which he makes like a shadow? Who can tell a human what will be after him under the sun?

    Hebrew numbering: Ecclesiastes 6:10–12.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he. Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? For 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?

  6. Greek translation c. 1st–2nd century AD (debated); French 1872

    Greek Ecclesiastes (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Ecclesiastes

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Si quelque chose a été, aussitôt un nom lui a été donné; on sait ce qu’est un homme, et qu’il ne pourra entrer en jugement avec un plus puissant que lui. Car il est maintes choses qui multiplient la vanité. Quel avantage a l’homme? Qui sait ce qui est bon à l’homme en sa vie, durant le nombre des jours de sa vanité, qu’il a passés dans l’ombre? Qui fera connaître à l’homme ce qui sera après lui sous le soleil?

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Ecclesiastes 6:10–7:1. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check). A C check needs the Göttingen edition of Greek Ecclesiastes (P. J. Gentry, 2019).

What changed, and why

"One mightier than he" (shetaqqif mimmennu) is usually taken as God (Job 9:32); the written form has an extra letter (she-hattaqqif), read without it.

The Greek and Latin chapter break before 6:12 attaches the questions to the "better than" sayings of chapter 7, which answer them. The site aligns the numbering automatically.

The library's Greek begins its 7:1 with "What advantage has man?", the last words of the Hebrew 6:11: the verse boundary falls differently, with no change of content.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedGreek and Latin Bibles number 6:12 as 7:1.
  • Strongly supported4Q109 preserves part of 6:12. Reported; C check.
  • DisputedThe mightier one is God.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Ecclesiastes 6: Wealth Without Enjoyment →Qoheleth describes an evil "common among men": God gives someone wealth and honor but not the power to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead (6:1–2). A man may have a hundred children and live many years, but if he is not satisfied and has no burial, a stillborn child is better off (vv. 3–5); even a thousand years twice over would not help (v. 6). Appetite is never filled (v. 7); what advantage has the wise (v. 8)? "Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire" (v. 9). What exists is already named; humans cannot contend with one stronger (v. 10). "Who knoweth what is good for man in this life… who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?" (v. 12).
    • Investigation: Time, Eternity and the Limits of Knowing →Ecclesiastes is a book about time: generations passing, fourteen pairs of times, eternity in the heart, the evil time that falls suddenly. It is also a book about knowing: again and again humans "cannot find out" God's work or know what comes after. This investigation traces both themes and the key words et (time) and olam (eternity, world).
    • Investigation: Ecclesiastes at Qumran →Cave 4 at Qumran yielded two fragmentary Hebrew manuscripts of Ecclesiastes: 4Q109 (4QQoh-a) and 4Q110 (4QQoh-b). 4Q109, dated by its script to the mid-2nd century BC, is among the oldest surviving manuscripts of any biblical book. This investigation reports what is known, what is only reported, and what the site has not yet checked.