Ecclesiastes 5:10-17

Easy-to-Read Version

Wealth Cannot Buy Happiness

¹⁰ Those who love money will never be satisfied with the money they have. Those who love wealth will not be satisfied when they get more and more. This is also senseless.

¹¹ The more wealth people have, the more “friends” they have to help spend it. So the rich really gain nothing. They can only look at their wealth.

¹² Those who work hard all day come home and sleep in peace. It is not important if they have little or much to eat. But the rich worry about their wealth and are not able to sleep.

¹³ There is a very sad thing that I have seen happen in this life.^[a] People save their money for the future.^{[b] 14} Then something bad happens and they lose everything. So they have nothing to give to their children.

¹⁵ People come into the world with nothing. And when they die, they leave with nothing. They might work hard to get things, but they cannot take anything with them when they die. ¹⁶ It is very sad that people leave the world just as they came. So what does a person gain from “trying to catch the wind”? ¹⁷ They only get days that are filled with sadness and sorrow. In the end, they are troubled, sick, and angry.