Ecclesiastes 5:10-16
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?
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 5:11 Lit see with their eyes
- Ecclesiastes 5:12 Lit satiety
- Ecclesiastes 5:13 Lit guarded
- Ecclesiastes 5:14 Lit in his hand
- Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit comes
- Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit go
Ecclesiastes 5:10-16
New International Version
10 Whoever loves money never has enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether they eat little or much,
but as for the rich, their abundance
permits them no sleep.(A)
13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:(B)
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners,
14 or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when they have children
there is nothing left for them to inherit.
15 Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb,
and as everyone comes, so they depart.(C)
They take nothing from their toil(D)
that they can carry in their hands.(E)
16 This too is a grievous evil:
As everyone comes, so they depart,
and what do they gain,
since they toil for the wind?(F)
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