Écclésiaste 6:9

Louis Segond

Ce que les yeux voient est préférable à l'agitation des désirs: c'est encore là une vanité et la poursuite du vent.

Parallel Translations

La Bible David Martin (1744)
Mieux vaut ce qu'on voit de ses yeux, que si l'�me fait de grandes recherches; cela aussi est une vanit�, et un rongement d'esprit.

La Bible Ostervald (1996)
Il vaut mieux voir de ses yeux, que d'avoir des d�sirs vagues. Cela aussi est une vanit� et un tourment d'esprit.

Darby's French Translation
Mieux vaut la vue des yeux que le mouvement du d�sir. Cela aussi est vanit� et poursuite du vent.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Better: Ecclesiastes 2:24, Ecclesiastes 3:12, Ecclesiastes 3:13, Ecclesiastes 5:18

wandering of the desire: Heb. walking of the soul, Job 31:7, Proverbs 30:15, Proverbs 30:16, Jeremiah 2:20

this: Ecclesiastes 6:2, Ecclesiastes 1:2, Ecclesiastes 1:14, Ecclesiastes 2:11, Ecclesiastes 2:22, Ecclesiastes 2:23, Ecclesiastes 4:4

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 9:1 - all Solomon's 1 Kings 9:19 - that which Solomon desired 1 Kings 21:4 - And he laid him Psalms 101:3 - set Proverbs 17:24 - the eyes Ecclesiastes 2:10 - whatsoever Ecclesiastes 2:17 - for Ecclesiastes 5:11 - what Isaiah 57:17 - in the 2 Corinthians 6:12 - are not

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Connect these verses with Ecclesiastes 6:2-3 : “All labor is undertaken with a view to some profit, but as a rule the people who labor are never satisfied. What advantage then has he who labors if (being rich) he is wise, or if being poor he knows how to conduct himself properly; what advantage have such laborers above a fool? (None, so far as they are without contentment, for) a thing present before the eyes is preferable to a future which exists only in the desire.”

Ecclesiastes 6:8

What - literally, what profit (as in Ecclesiastes 1:3).

Knoweth ... living - i. e., “Knows how to conduct himself rightly among his contemporaries.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ecclesiastes 6:9. Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire — This is translated by the Vulgate, as a sort of adage: Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias, "It is better to see what one desires than to covet what one knows not." It is better to enjoy the present than to feed one's self with vain desires of the future. What we translate the wandering of desire, מהלך נפש mehaloch nephesh, is the travelling of the soul. What is this? Does it simply mean desire? Or is there any reference here to the state of separate spirits! It however shows the soul to be in a restless state, and consequently to be unhappy. If Christ dwell in the heart by faith, the soul is then at rest, and this is properly the rest of the people of God.