Single lesson
Ecclesiastes 6: The Futility of Life
Ecclesiastes 6:1–12
Ecclesiastes 6 raises hard questions about riches, long life, work and wisdom. In this lesson, children will hear the writer’s examples and practise explaining how the passage describes frustration, unsatisfied desire and the limits of human understanding.
Before you teach
In Ecclesiastes 6:1-12, the writer points to people who seem to have advantages such as riches, honour, many years and much labour, yet still do not enjoy good. The passage uses searching examples, brief sayings and direct questions to show how life under the sun can feel deeply puzzling and empty.
Students will be able to name two examples from Ecclesiastes 6 and explain that the passage highlights frustrated enjoyment, restless desire and human limits in knowing what is good or what will come next.
Welcome: When good things still do not satisfy
5 minBegin by asking children to name things people often think will make life great, such as money, honour or a long life. Explain that this passage opens with a heavy problem: a person may receive riches, wealth and honour, yet still have no power to enjoy them. The writer calls this vanity and a serious evil.
Ecclesiastes 6:1, Ecclesiastes 6:2
Read and explain: Two weighty examples
7 minRead the first part aloud in short sections. First, notice the person with many possessions who cannot enjoy them. Then notice the very weighty comparison about someone with many children and many years whose soul is still not filled with good. The point is sober and strong: long life by itself is not presented as enough.
Ecclesiastes 6:2, Ecclesiastes 6:3, Ecclesiastes 6:4, Ecclesiastes 6:5, Ecclesiastes 6:6
Discuss: Work, appetite and wandering desire
6 minHelp children trace the next sayings carefully. People labour for their mouth, yet appetite is still not filled. The writer then asks what advantage the wise have over the fool here. After that comes a short saying: what the eyes can see is better than desire that keeps wandering. This too is called vanity.
Ecclesiastes 6:7, Ecclesiastes 6:8, Ecclesiastes 6:9
Make and respond: Reminder card from the passage
8 minInvite each child to choose one verse or short phrase from the passage and turn it into a reminder card. They might draw eyes for ‘the sight of the eyes’, a mouth for appetite, or a shadow for life passing quickly. As they work, ask them to explain what their chosen words show about this chapter’s questions and limits.
Ecclesiastes 6:7, Ecclesiastes 6:9, Ecclesiastes 6:12
Closing: Questions that stay open
4 minFinish with the final lines of the passage. People cannot contend with one mightier than they are. Many words can create vanity. The chapter ends by asking who knows what is good in life and who can tell what comes after. Summarise by noticing the writer’s honesty about human limits.
Ecclesiastes 6:10, Ecclesiastes 6:11, Ecclesiastes 6:12
Questions to explore
In verse 2, what good things does the man have, and what is he still unable to do?
Look carefully at the list in the verse, then notice the surprising problem that he has no power to enjoy what he desires.
Ecclesiastes 6:2
How do verses 3 to 6 show, in a very weighty way, that many years alone are not enough?
Listen for the repeated idea that even many children and a very long life do not satisfy if the soul is not filled with good or if good is not enjoyed.
Ecclesiastes 6:3, Ecclesiastes 6:4, Ecclesiastes 6:5, Ecclesiastes 6:6
What does ‘Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire’ help us notice in this chapter?
Compare this saying with the verses about labour, appetite not being filled, and questions about advantage.
Ecclesiastes 6:7, Ecclesiastes 6:8, Ecclesiastes 6:9
Make, think or respond
Ecclesiastes Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- index cards or scrap paper
- pencils or pens
- coloured pencils or crayons
- Bible text of Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
Try it together
- Read verses 7, 9 and 12 again and let each child choose one verse or phrase to remember.
- Write the chosen words neatly on one side of a card.
- Draw a simple picture that matches the verse, such as eyes, a plate, a road or a shadow.
- On the back, write one short sentence explaining what the verse shows in this passage.
- Invite children to show their card and read both the verse and their sentence aloud.
This activity helps children hold onto the passage’s own words and explain its main teaching about frustrated desire, limited enjoyment and the questions people cannot fully answer.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, pre-select two short phrases such as ‘the appetite is not filled’ and ‘the sight of the eyes’, and let them choose one to illustrate.
- For older or more confident children, ask them to compare two examples from the chapter and write one sentence explaining how both support the same wisdom teaching.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: ‘God, thank you for your word. Please help us listen carefully, understand these hard questions about life, and grow in wisdom as we read.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Ecclesiastes 6
1 There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy on men:
2 a man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God gives him no power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease.
3 If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he;
4 for it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.
5 Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it. This has rest rather than the other.
6 Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don’t all go to one place?
7 All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
8 For what advantage has the wise more than the fool? What has the poor man, that knows how to walk before the living?
9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.
10 Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.
11 For there are many words that create vanity. What does that profit man?
12 For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.