Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

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 is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this also is vanity and pursuit of the wind.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the going of the soul. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. This is to no purpose and a desire for wind.

Better is the seeing of the eyes than the wandering of the desire; this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

It is better to see what you desire, than to desire what you cannot know. But this, too, is emptiness and a presumption of spirit.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire - This is translated by the Vulgate, as a sort of adage: Melius est videre quod cupias, quam desiderare quod nescias, "It is better to see what one desires than to covet what one knows not." It is better to enjoy the present than to feed one's self with vain desires of the future. What we translate the wandering of desire, מהלך נפש mehaloch nephesh, is the travelling of the soul. What is this? Does it simply mean desire? Or is there any reference here to the state of separate spirits! It however shows the soul to be in a restless state, and consequently to be unhappy. If Christ dwell in the heart by faith, the soul is then at rest, and this is properly the rest of the people of God.

Better [is] the (g) sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this [is] also vanity and vexation of spirit.
(g) To be content with that which God has given is better than to follow the desires that can never be satisfied.

Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire,.... By "the sight of the eyes" is not meant the bare beholding outward riches, as in Ecclesiastes 5:11; but the enjoyment of present mercies; such things as a man is in the possession of, and with which he should be content, Hebrews 13:5; and by "the wandering of the desire", the craving appetite and insatiable lust of the covetous mind, which enlarges its desire as hell, after a thousand things, and everything it can think of; such a mind roves through the whole creation, and covets everything under the sun: now it is better to enjoy contentedly things in sight and in possession, than to let the mind loose in vague desires, after things that may never be come at, and, if attained to, would give no satisfaction;
this is also vanity and vexation of spirit: a most vain thing, to give the mind such a loose and liberty in its unbounded desires after worldly things; and a vexation of spirit it is to such a craving mind, that it cannot obtain what it is so desirous of.

Answer to the question in Ecclesiastes 6:8. This is the advantage:
Better is the sight of the eyes--the wise man's godly enjoyment of present seen blessings
than the (fool's) wandering--literally, walking (Psalm 73:9), of the desire, that is, vague, insatiable desires for what he has not (Ecclesiastes 6:7; Hebrews 13:5).
this--restless wandering of desire, and not enjoying contentedly the present (1-Timothy 6:6, 1-Timothy 6:8).

"Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the soul: also this is vain and windy effort." We see from the fin. הל־ן interchanging with מר that the latter is not meant of the object (Ecclesiastes 11:9), but of the action, viz., the "rejoicing in that which one has" (Targ.); but this does not signify grassatio,-i.e., impetus animae appetentis, ὁρμὴ τῆς ψυχῆς (cf. Marcus Aurelius, iii. 16), which Knobel, Heiligst., and Ginsburg compare (for הלך means grassari only with certain subjects, as fire, contagion, and the life; and in certain forms, as יהלך for ילך, to which הלך = לכת does not belong), - but erratio, a going out in extent, roving to a distance (cf. הלך, wanderer), ῥεμβασμὸς ἐπιθυμίας, Wisd. 4:12. - Going is the contrast of rest; the soul which does not become full or satisfied goes out, and seeks and reaches not its aim. This insatiableness, characteristic of the soul, this endless unrest, belongs also to the miseries of this present life; for to have and to enjoy is better than this constant Hungern und Lungern hungering and longing. More must not be put into 9a than already lies in it, as Elster does: "the only enduring enjoyment of life consists in the quiet contemplation of that which, as pleasant and beautiful, it affords, without this mental joy mingling with the desire for the possession of sensual enjoyment." The conception of "the sight of the eyes" is certainly very beautifully idealized, but in opposition to the text. If 9a must be a moral proverb, then Luther's rendering is the best: "It is better to enjoy the present good, than to think about other good."

The fight - The comfortable enjoyment of what a man hath. Than - Restless desires of what a man hath not. This - Wandering of the desire.