Ecclesiastes 5:17-19
New American Standard Bible
17 All his life (A)he also eats in darkness with (B)great irritation, sickness, and anger.
18 Here is what I have seen to be (C)good and [a]fitting: to eat, to drink, and [b]enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few [c]years of his life which God has given him; for this is his [d](D)reward. 19 Furthermore, as for every person to whom (E)God has given riches and wealth, He has also (F)given him the opportunity to [e]enjoy them and to receive his [f]reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the (G)gift of God.
Read full chapterNotas al pie
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit beautiful
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit see good
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or days
- Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or share
- Ecclesiastes 5:19 Lit eat from it
- Ecclesiastes 5:19 Or share
Ecclesiastes 5:17-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.(A)
18 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us, for this is our lot.(B) 19 Likewise, all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil—this is the gift of God.(C)
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Ecclesiastes 5:17-19
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
17 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.
18 And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.
19 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,
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Ecclesiastes 5:17-20
The Message
13-17 Here’s a piece of bad luck I’ve seen happen:
A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him
And then loses it all in a bad business deal.
He fathered a child but hasn’t a cent left to give him.
He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;
He’ll leave in the same condition—with nothing.
This is bad luck, for sure—naked he came, naked he went.
So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?
All for a miserable life spent in the dark?
Make the Most of What God Gives
18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.
Read full chapterNew American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson