8 What advantage have the wise over fools? What do the poor gain by knowing how to conduct themselves before others?

Other Translations of Ecclesiastes 6:8

King James Version

8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

English Standard Version

8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?

The Message

8 So what advantage has a sage over a fool, or over some poor wretch who barely gets by?

New King James Version

8 For what more has the wise man than the fool? What does the poor man have, Who knows how to walk before the living?

New Living Translation

8 So are wise people really better off than fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:8

Commentary on Ecclesiastes 6:7-12

(Read Ecclesiastes 6:7-12)

A little will serve to sustain us comfortably, and a great deal can do no more. The desires of the soul find nothing in the wealth of the world to give satisfaction. The poor man has comfort as well as the richest, and is under no real disadvantage. We cannot say, Better is the sight of the eyes than the resting of the soul in God; for it is better to live by faith in things to come, than to live by sense, which dwells only upon present things. Our lot is appointed. We have what pleases God, and let that please us. The greatest possessions and honours cannot set us above the common events of human life. Seeing that the things men pursue on earth increase vanities, what is man the better for his worldly devices? Our life upon earth is to be reckoned by days. It is fleeting and uncertain, and with little in it to be fond of, or to be depended on. Let us return to God, trust in his mercy through Jesus Christ, and submit to his will. Then soon shall we glide through this vexatious world, and find ourselves in that happy place, where there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.