Ecclesiastes 6:9

9 {Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!

Ecclesiastes 6:9 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 6:9

Better [is] the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the
desire
By "the sight of the eyes" is not meant the bare beholding outward riches, as in ( Ecclesiastes 5:11 ) ; but the enjoyment of present mercies; such things as a man is in the possession of, and with which he should be content, ( Hebrews 13:5 ) ; and by "the wandering of the desire", the craving appetite and insatiable lust of the covetous mind, which enlarges its desire as hell, after a thousand things, and everything it can think of; such a mind roves through the whole creation, and covets everything under the sun: now it is better to enjoy contentedly things in sight and in possession, than to let the mind loose in vague desires, after things that may never be come at, and, if attained to, would give no satisfaction; this [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit:
a most vain thing, to give the mind such a loose and liberty in its unbounded desires after worldly things; and a vexation of spirit it is to such a craving mind, that it cannot obtain what it is so desirous of.

Ecclesiastes 6:9 In-Context

7 All of a man's toil [is] for his mouth-- yet his appetite is never satisfied.
8 So do the wise [really] have an advantage over fools? {Can the poor [really] gain anything by knowing how to act in front of others}?
9 {Better to be content with what your eyes see than for your soul to constantly crave more}. This also [is] vanity and chasing wind!
10 Whatever is--it was already determined, {what will be--it has already been decided}. As for man, he cannot argue against what is more powerful than him.
11 {Increasing words only multiplies futility}, how does that profit anyone?

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "Sight of the eyes [is] better than wandering of desire"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.