Ecclesiastes 5:14
12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured 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
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Read in contextHaggai 2:16–17
Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
Read in contextHaggai 1:9
Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
Read in contextJob 20:15–29
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
Read in contextProverbs 23:5
Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Read in contextJob 5:5
Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
Read in contextMatthew 6:19–20
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Read in context1 Samuel 2:36
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
Read in context