Parallel Verses

Holman Bible

Indeed, if a man lives many years,
let him rejoice in them all,
and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many.
All that comes is futile.

New American Standard Bible

Indeed, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all, and let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything that is to come will be futility.

King James Version

But if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

International Standard Version

Even if a person lives many years, let him enjoy them all, recalling that there will be many days of darkness to come all of which are pointless.

A Conservative Version

Yea, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

American Standard Version

Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

Amplified

Yes, if a man should live many years, let him rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All that is to come will be futility.

Bible in Basic English

But even if a man's life is long and he has joy in all his years, let him keep in mind the dark days, because they will be great in number. Whatever may come is to no purpose.

Darby Translation

but if a man live many years, and rejoice in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many: all that cometh is vanity.

Julia Smith Translation

If man shall live many years, in them all shall he rejoice; and he shall remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. All coming is vanity.

King James 2000

But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

Lexham Expanded Bible

For if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in all of them! Let him remember that the days of the darkness will be many-- all that is coming [is] vanity!

Modern King James verseion

but if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

Modern Spelling Tyndale-Coverdale

If a man live many years, and be glad in them all, let him remember the days of darkness, which shall be many: And when they come, all things shall be but vanity.

NET Bible

So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many -- all that is about to come is obscure.

New Heart English Bible

Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

The Emphasized Bible

But, though, many years, a man live, through them all, let him rejoice; yet let him remember the days of darkness, for many they may be, all that cometh, may be vanity.

Webster

But if a man shall live many years, and rejoice in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

World English Bible

Yes, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity.

Youngs Literal Translation

But, if man liveth many years, In all of them let him rejoice, And remember the days of darkness, For they are many! all that is coming is vanity.

Interlinear

English(KJV)
Strong's
Root Form
Definition
Usage
But if a man
אדם 
'adam 
Usage: 541

חיה 
Chayah 
Usage: 264

רבה 
Rabah 
Usage: 224

שׁנה שׁנה 
Shaneh (in pl. only), 
year, not translated, yearly, yearly + , year , live , old ,
Usage: 811

and rejoice
שׂמח 
Samach 
Usage: 155

the days
יום 
Yowm 
Usage: 2293

חשׁך 
Choshek 
Usage: 78


come, bring, ... in, enter, go, carry, ...down, pass, ...out,
Usage: 0

Prayers for Ecclesiastes 11:8

Context Readings

Enjoy Life To The Fullest Within The Auspices Of The Fear Of God

7 Light is sweet,
and it is pleasing for the eyes to see the sun.
8 Indeed, if a man lives many years,
let him rejoice in them all,
and let him remember the days of darkness, since they will be many.
All that comes is futile.
9 Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sight of your eyes;
but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.


Cross References

Deuteronomy 32:29

If only they were wise, they would figure it out;
they would understand their fate.

Job 10:22

It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like the darkness.”

Job 14:10

But a man dies and fades away;
he breathes his last—where is he?

Job 15:23

He wanders about for food, saying, “Where is it?”
He knows the day of darkness is at hand.

Job 18:18

He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

Ecclesiastes 2:15

So I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?” And I said to myself that this is also futile.

Ecclesiastes 2:17

Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:19

And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 2:21-23

When there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it, this too is futile and a great wrong.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God’s sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

Ecclesiastes 4:8

There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. “So who am I struggling for,” he asks, “and depriving myself from good?” This too is futile and a miserable task.

Ecclesiastes 4:16

There is no limit to all the people who were before them, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

Ecclesiastes 5:15-16

As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

Ecclesiastes 6:6

And if he lives a thousand years twice, but does not experience happiness, do not both go to the same place?

Ecclesiastes 6:11

For when there are many words, they increase futility. What is the advantage for man?

Ecclesiastes 7:14

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.

Ecclesiastes 8:12

Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him.

Ecclesiastes 8:15

So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-5

So remember your Creator in the days of your youth:

Before the days of adversity come,
and the years approach when you will say,
“I have no delight in them”;

Jeremiah 13:16

Give glory to the Lord your God
before He brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
on the mountains at dusk.
You wait for light,
but He brings darkest gloom
and makes thick darkness.

Joel 2:2

a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and dense overcast,
like the dawn spreading over the mountains;
a great and strong people appears,
such as never existed in ages past
and never will again
in all the generations to come.

Matthew 22:13

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

John 12:35

Jesus answered, “The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light so that darkness doesn’t overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he’s going.

Jude 1:18

they told you, “In the end time there will be scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires.”

King James Version Public Domain

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers.

International Standard Version Copyright © 1996-2008 by the ISV Foundation.

New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org

American Standard Version Public Domain

NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. NetBible

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain