Ecclesiastes 5:11

Ecclesiastes 5:11 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
• New International Version (NIV)As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
• English Standard Version (ESV)When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?
• New King James Version (NKJV)When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes?

Context of Ecclesiastes 5:11

9After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land. 10He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its gain. This too is vanity (emptiness). When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what advantage is there to their owners except to see them with their eyes? 12The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach (greed) of the rich [who hungers for even more] will not let him sleep. 13There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being kept and hoarded by their owner to his own misery.

Ecclesiastes 5:11 word by word

בִּרְבוֹת֙ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה רַבּ֖וּ אוֹכְלֶ֑יהָ וּמַה־כִּשְׁרוֹן֙ לִבְעָלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֖י אִם־רְא֥וּת עֵינָֽיו׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• When goodsטוֹבָהţôb · welfareH2896
• increaseרָבָהrâbâh · to multiplyH7235
• they are increasedרָבַבrâbab · to multiplyH7231
• that eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• them: and what goodכִּשְׁרוֹןkishrôn · skillH3788
• to the ownersבַּעַלba‛al · masterH1167
• thereof, savingאִם'im · ifH518
• the beholdingרְאוּתre'îyth · sightH7212
• the beholdingרַאיָּהra'ăvâh · to beholdH7207
• with their eyesעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869

Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 5:11

• Genesis 12:16Therefore Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake; he acquired sheep, oxen, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
• Genesis 13:2Now Abram was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.
• 1 Kings 4:22Solomon’s food [for the royal household] for one day was thirty kors of finely milled flour, sixty kors of wheat flour,
• 1 Kings 5:13King Solomon levied forced laborers from all Israel; and the forced laborers numbered 30,000 men.
• Nehemiah 5:17Moreover, there were at my table a hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us.
• Psalms 119:36Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain and envy.
• Ecclesiastes 6:9What the eyes see [enjoying what is available] is better than [craving] what the soul desires. This too is futility and chasing after the wind.
• Ecclesiastes 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.
• Joshua 7:21when I saw among the spoils [in Jericho] a beautiful robe from Shinar (southern Babylon) and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I wanted them and took them. Behold, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
• Proverbs 23:5When you set your eyes on wealth, it is [suddenly] gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings Like an eagle that flies to the heavens.
• Jeremiah 17:11Like the partridge that hatches eggs which she has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune in ways that are unjust. It will be lost to him before his days are over, And in the end he will be [nothing but] a fool.”
• Habakkuk 2:13Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts That peoples labor [only] for the fire [that will destroy their work], And nations grow weary for nothing [that is, things which have no lasting value]?
• 1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world.

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5:11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11When goods increase - An increase of property always brings an increase of expense, by a multitude of servants; and the owner really possesses no more, and probably enjoys much less, than he did, when every day provided its own bread, and could lay up no store for the next. But if he have more enjoyment, his cares are multiplied; and he has no kind of profit. "This also is vanity."Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11They … that eat them - i. e., The laborers employed, and the household servants.Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-17Verses 9-17 The goodness of Providence is more equally distributed than appears to a careless observer. The king needs the common things of life, and the poor share them; they relish their morsel better than he does his luxuries. There are bodily desires which silver itself will not satisfy, much less will worldly abundance satisfy spiritual desires. The more men have, the better house they must keep, the more servants they must employ, the more guests…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1111. they ... that eat them--the rich man's dependents (Psa 23:5).Read the comment

Topics related to Ecclesiastes 5:11

• Avarice
• Covetousness
• Riches

In the dictionaries

• Abundance
• Angry
• Defer
• Eat
• Error
• Vow
• Good
• Goods
• Save
• Synagogue, the Great

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings