Good News TranslationIt is useless; it is like chasing the wind. It is better to be satisfied with what you have than to be always wanting something else.
New Revised Standard Version
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of desire; this also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
Contemporary English Version
It's better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.
New American Bible
“What the eyes see is better than what the desires wander after.” This also is vanity and a chase after wind.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Better it is to see what thou mayst desire, than to desire that which thou canst not know. But this also is vanity, and presumption of spirit.
better
Ecclesiastes 2:24 Is it not better to eat and drink, and to shew his soul good things of his labours? and this is from the hand of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:12,13 And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life. . . .
Ecclesiastes 5:18 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.
wandering of the desire
Job 31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and if my heart hath followed my eyes, and if a spot hath cleaved to my hands:
Proverbs 30:15,16 The horseleech hath two daughters that say: Bring, bring. There are three things that never are satisfied, and the fourth never saith: It is enough. . . .
Jeremiah 2:20 Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself.
this
Ecclesiastes 6:2 A man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and honour, and his soul wanteth nothing of all that he desireth: yet God doth not give him power to eat thereof, but a stranger shall eat it up. This is vanity and a great misery.
Ecclesiastes 1:2,14 Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes: vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. . . .
Ecclesiastes 2:11,22,23 And when I turned myself to all the works which my hands had wrought, and to the labours wherein I had laboured in vain, I saw in all things vanity, and vexation of mind, and that nothing was lasting under the sun. . . .
Ecclesiastes 4:4 Again I considered all the labours of men, and I remarked that their industries are exposed to the envy of their neighbour: so in this also there is vanity, and fruitless care.
