Ecclesiastes 5:14
12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.
15 As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
16 This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.
- KJV
- But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
- WEB
- Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
- ASV
- and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.
- DARBY
- or those riches perish by some evil circumstance, and if he have begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.
- BLB
- and that wealth perished in a business of evil, and he begets a son, and [there is] not anything in his hand.
- ÅB
- Går denne rikdom tapt ved et uhell, og han har fått en sønn, så blir det intet igjen for ham.
- OTB
- eller rikdom tapt gjennom uheldige omstendigheter, slik at det ikke er noe igjen for deres barn å arve.
- B1930
- Går denne rikdom tapt ved et uhell, og han har fått en sønn, så blir det intet igjen for ham.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
Read in contextHaggai 2:16–17
from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.
Read in contextHaggai 1:9
You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
Read in contextJob 20:15–29
He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.
Read in contextProverbs 23:5
When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
Read in contextJob 5:5
The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
Read in contextMatthew 6:19–20
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
Read in context1 Samuel 2:36
And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”
Read in context