Écclésiaste 6:3

Louis Segond

Quand un homme aurait cent fils, vivrait un grand nombre d'années, et que les jours de ses années se multiplieraient, si son âme ne s'est point rassasiée de bonheur, et si de plus il n'a point de sépulture, je dis qu'un avorton est plus heureux que lui.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Quand un homme en aurait engendré cent, et qu'il aurait vécu plusieurs années, en sorte que les jours de ses années se soient fort multipliés, cependant si son âme ne s'est point rassasiée de bien, et même s'il n'a point eu de sépulture, je dis qu'un avorton vaut mieux que lui.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Quand un homme aurait cent enfants, qu'il aurait vécu de nombreuses années, et que les jours de ses années se seraient multipliés; si son âme ne s'est pas rassasiée de bien, et que même il n'ait point de sépulture, je dis qu'un avorton vaut mieux que lui.

Darby's French Translation
Si un homme engendre cent fils, et qu'il vive beaucoup d'années, et que les jours de ses années soient en grand nombre, et que son âme ne soit pas rassasiée de bien, et aussi qu'il n'ait pas de sépulture, je dis que mieux vaut un avorton que lui;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a man: Genesis 33:5, 1 Samuel 2:20, 1 Samuel 2:21, 2 Kings 10:1, 1 Chronicles 28:5, 2 Chronicles 11:21, Esther 5:11, Psalms 127:4, Psalms 127:5, Proverbs 17:6

so: Ecclesiastes 5:17-19, Genesis 47:9

and also: 2 Kings 9:35, Esther 7:10, Esther 9:14, Esther 9:15, Isaiah 14:19, Isaiah 14:20, Jeremiah 22:19, Jeremiah 36:30

that an: Ecclesiastes 4:3, Job 3:16, Psalms 58:8, Matthew 26:24

Reciprocal: Genesis 15:15 - buried Genesis 23:4 - burying place Genesis 23:19 - General Genesis 50:5 - bury me 2 Kings 9:37 - the carcase Job 3:10 - it shut not Job 3:13 - then had I been at rest Ecclesiastes 6:6 - yet Ecclesiastes 6:7 - appetite Isaiah 14:18 - all of Jeremiah 8:2 - they shall be Jeremiah 20:17 - he slew Hosea 9:11 - from the birth Revelation 11:9 - and shall not

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If a man beget an hundred [children],.... Sons and daughters, a certain number for an uncertain. Some have had many children, and almost this number; Rehoboam had twenty eight sons and threescore daughters; and Ahab had seventy sons, how many daughters is not said,

2 Chronicles 11:21; this was reckoned a great honour and happiness to have many children; happy was the man that had his quiver full of them,

Psalms 127:3; such a case is here supposed;

and live many years, so that the days of his years be many; or "sufficient", as Jarchi interprets it; he lives as long as life is desirable; lives to a good old age, to the full age of men, threescore years and ten; yea, supposing he was to live to be as old as Methuselah,

and his soul be not filled with good; does not enjoy the good things he has; has no pleasure nor satisfaction in the temporal good things of life, has not the comfort of them, and is always uneasy, because he has not more of them; and especially if his soul is not filled with spiritual good things, the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ;

And also [that] he have no burial; as Jezebel, Jehoiakim, and others; who is either destroyed by robbers and cutthroats, for the sake of his substance, and cast into a ditch or a river, or some place, where he is never found to be interred; or else, being of such a sordid disposition, he provides not for a decent burial, suitably to his circumstances, or forbids one; or, being despised and disesteemed by all men, his heirs and successors either neglect or refuse to give him one; see Jeremiah 22:29;

I say [that] an untimely birth [is] better than he; an abortive is to be preferred unto him; it would have been better for him if he had never been born, or had been in such a case.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

No burial - For a corpse to lie unburied was a circumstance in itself of special ignominy and dishonor (compare the marginal references).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 6:3. If a man beget a hundred children] If he have the most numerous family and the largest possessions, and is so much attached to his riches that he grudges himself a monument; an abortion in the eye of reason is to be preferred to such a man; himself is contemptible, and his life worthless. The abortion comes in with vanity - baulks expectation, departs in darkness - never opened its eyes upon the light, and its name is covered with darkness - it has no place in the family register, or in the chronicles of Israel. This, that hath neither seen the sun, nor known any thing is preferable to the miser who has his coffers and granaries well furnished, should he have lived a thousand years, and had a hundred children. He has seen - possessed, no good; and he and the abortion go to one place, equally unknown, and wholly forgotten.