Ecclesiastes 5:10-6:12

New American Standard Bible

The Foolishness of Riches

^10 (A)One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility. ^11 (B)When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to ^[a]look at them? ¹² The sleep of the laborer is ^(C)sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the ^[b]full stomach of the rich person does not allow him to sleep.

¹³ There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: ^(D)wealth being ^[c]hoarded by its owner to his detriment. ¹⁴ When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing ^[d]to support him. ^15 (E)As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came. He will ^(F)take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person ^[e]is born, so will he ^[f]die. ^(G)What then is the advantage for him who ^(H)labors for the wind? ¹⁷ All his life ^(I)he also eats in darkness with ^(J)great irritation, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen to be ^(K)good and ^[g]fitting: to eat, to drink, and ^[h]enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few ^[i]years of his life which God has given him; for this is his ^[j](L)reward. ¹⁹ Furthermore, as for every person to whom ^(M)God has given riches and wealth, He has also ^(N)given him the opportunity to ^[k]enjoy them and to receive his ^[l]reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the ^(O)gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not often call to mind the ^[m]years of his life, because ^(P)God keeps ^[n]him busy with the joy of his heart.

The Futility of Life

6 There is an ^(Q)evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread ^[o]among mankind: ² a person to whom God has ^(R)given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul ^(S)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to ^[p]enjoy these things, but a foreigner ^[q]enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction. ³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many ^[r]they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper ^(T)burial, then I say, “Better ^(U)the miscarriage than he, ⁴ for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness. ⁵ It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet ^[s]it is better off than that man. ⁶ Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—^(V)do not all go to one and the same place?”

^7 (W)All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet ^[t]his appetite is not ^[u]satisfied. ⁸ For ^(X)what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living? ⁹ What the eyes ^(Y)see is better than what the soul ^[v]desires. This too is ^(Z)futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰ Whatever ^(AA)exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he ^(AB)cannot dispute with the ^[w]one who is mightier than he is. ¹¹ For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person? ¹² For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few ^[x]years of his futile life? He will ^[y]spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person ^(AC)what will happen after him under the sun?