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Ecclesiastes 6:5

Old Testament Wisdom/Poetry ASV (1901)

What does Ecclesiastes 6:5 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:
Ecclesiastes 6:5 — American Standard Version

Context — Ecclesiastes 6

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
2a man to whom God giveth riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacketh nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but an alien eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3If a man beget a hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul be not filled with good, and moreover he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he:
4for it cometh in vanity, and departeth in darkness, and the name thereof is covered with darkness;
5moreover it hath not seen the sun nor known it; this hath rest rather than the other:
6yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoy no good, do not all go to one place?
7All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8For what advantage hath the wise more than the fool? [or] what hath the poor man, that knoweth how to walk before the living?
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What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Moreover, he hath not seen the sun, etc.] This must be spoken of the abortive, and seems to confirm the sense of the former text, as belonging to it; and whereas it has never seen the light of the sun, nor enjoyed the pleasure and comfort of it, it is no ways distressing to it to be without it. The Targum is, “the light of the law he seeth not; and knoweth not between good and evil, to judge between this world and that to come:” so the Vulgate Latin version, “neither knows the difference of good and evil”; nor known [anything]; not the sun, nor anything else: or “experienced”f147 and “felt” the heat of the sun, and its comfortable influences; which a man may, who is blind, and has never seen…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“this--yet "it has more rest than" the toiling, gloomy miser.”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Rather, it hath not seen nor known the sun: this (the untimely birth) hath rest rather than the other. return to 'Top of Page'”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“More rest - Because he is free from all those encumbrances and vexations to which the covetuous man is long exposed. Ecclesiastes 6:6”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“this: Job 3:10-13, Job 14:1; Psa 58:8, Psa 90:7-9 Ecclesiastes 6:6”
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Related study paths

Read Ecclesiastes 6 in contextBrowse Hebrew word studiesOpen this verse in the study reader

Sources and verification