Ecclesiastes 6:1

Revised Standard Version

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon men:

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind:

Geneva Bible (1587)
There is an euill, which I sawe vnder the sunne, and it is much among men:

Christian Standard Bible®
Here is a tragedy I have observed under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity:

Hebrew Names Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:

Easy-to-Read Version
I have seen another thing in this life that is not fair and is very hard to understand.

Amplified Bible
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men:

American Standard Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

Contemporary English Version
There is something else terribly unfair, and it troubles everyone on earth.

Complete Jewish Bible
I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on people:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

King James Version (1611)
There is an euill which I haue seen vnder the Sun, and it is common among men:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is abundant with man:

English Revised Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men:

Berean Standard Bible
There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:

Lexham English Bible
Here is another misfortune that I have seen under the sun, and it is prevalent among humankind.

Literal Translation
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is great among men:

New Century Version
I have seen something else wrong here on earth that causes serious problems for people.

New English Translation
Here is another misfortune that I have seen on earth, and it weighs heavily on people:

New King James Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

New Living Translation
There is another serious tragedy I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on humanity.

New Life Bible
There is another bad thing which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard for men:

New Revised Standard
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon humankind:

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Here was an evil, I had seen under the sun, - and it is, common, among men:

Douay-Rheims Bible
There is also another evil, which I have seen under the sun, and that frequent among men:

George Lamsa Translation
THERE is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men;

Good News Translation
I have noticed that in this world a serious injustice is done.

New American Standard Bible
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread among mankind:

King James Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is common among men:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
There is yet a plague vnder the sunne, and it is a generall thyng among men:

Darby Translation
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it is frequent among men:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also another yuel is, which Y siy vndur the sunne; and certis it is oft vsid anentis men.

Young's Literal Translation
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it [is] great on man:

World English Bible
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:

Update Bible Version
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on man:

Webster's Bible Translation
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] common among men:

Bible in Basic English
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is hard on men;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
There is yet a plage vnder ye Sonne, & it is a generall thinge amonge me:

THE MESSAGE
I looked long and hard at what goes on around here, and let me tell you, things are bad. And people feel it. There are people, for instance, on whom God showers everything—money, property, reputation—all they ever wanted or dreamed of. And then God doesn't let them enjoy it. Some stranger comes along and has all the fun. It's more of what I'm calling smoke. A bad business.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men—

Legacy Standard Bible
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men—

Contextual Overview

¹ There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy upon men: ² a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them; this is vanity; it is a sore affliction. ³ If a man begets a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but he does not enjoy life's good things, and also has no burial, I say that an untimely birth is better off than he. ⁴ For it comes into vanity and goes into darkness, and in darkness its name is covered; ⁵ moreover it has not seen the sun or known anything; yet it finds rest rather than he. ⁶ Even though he should live a thousand years twice told, yet enjoy no good--do not all go to the one place?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ecclesiastes 5:13

Reciprocal: Ecclesiastes 9:13 - General Ecclesiastes 10:5 - an evil

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun,.... The Vulgate Latin version reads it, another evil; but wrongly, for the same is considered as before, the evil of covetousness; which is one of the evil things that come out of the heart of man; is abominable to the Lord, contrary to his nature and will, and a breach of his law, which forbids it, and is the root of all evil; this is an evil under the sun, for there is nothing of this kind above it; and it fell under the observation of Solomon in various instances;

and it [is] common among men; or, "great over men" u; or "over the man", the covetous man: it spreads itself over them; few were free from it, even so long ago, in those early times, and in such times in which silver was made no account of, and was like stones in Jerusalem, as common as they; and yet the sin of covetousness, of hoarding up money and making no use of it, for a man's own good, and the good of others, was very rife among men, 1 Kings 10:27.

u ורבה היא על האדם "et multum ipsum super hominem", Montanus; "et magaum est illud super hominem istum", Rambachius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Common among - Rather, great (heavy) upon people.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER VI

The vanity of riches without use, 1, 2.

Of children and of old age without riches and enjoyment, 3-7.

Man does not know what is good for himself, 8-12.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI