EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ecclesiastes 5:17
17Even if people are rich, they do not enjoy their food. They suffer all through their lives. They are upset, angry and sick.
Ecclesiastes 5:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
- New International Version (NIV)All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.
- New King James Version (NKJV)All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
Context of Ecclesiastes 5:17
15When people are born, they bring nothing with them. When they die, they take nothing away with them. All their hard work finally leaves them with nothing. 16This is also a terrible thing to happen. People leave this earth with nothing, as they came into it with nothing. All their hard work has been useless, like someone who tries to catch the wind. Even if people are rich, they do not enjoy their food. They suffer all through their lives. They are upset, angry and sick. 18But I realized that there is one good thing for people to do. We should be happy to eat and to drink. And we should enjoy the hard work that we do on the earth. That is what God wants us to do during the short time that he has given us on this earth. 19God gives some people a lot of money and valuable things. He helps them to enjoy those things and to be happy with their work. All of this is a gift from God.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 5Ecclesiastes 5:17 word by word
גַּ֥ם כָּל־יָמָ֖יו בַּחֹ֣שֶׁךְ יֹאכֵ֑ל וְכָעַ֥ס הַרְבֵּ֖ה וְחָלְי֥וֹ וָקָֽצֶף׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 5:17
- Genesis 3:17Then God said to Adam, ‘You listened to your wife and you did what she said. You ate fruit from the tree after I told you, “You must not eat fruit from this tree.” Because you did that, I will curse the ground. You will have to work very hard to make plants grow in it for your food. It will be like this for your whole life.
- 1 Kings 17:12She replied, ‘As surely as the Lord your God lives, I do not have any bread. I have only a small amount of flour in a bowl and some olive oil in a small jar. I am now picking up a few sticks to take home. Then I will cook a meal for myself and for my son. We will eat it. Then we will die because there is nothing else to eat.’
- Job 21:25But another person is sad all his life, until he dies. No good things ever happen to him.
- Psalms 78:33So he made their lives end quickly, like a breath. They became very afraid.
- Psalms 102:9Because you are so angry with me, I eat ashes as my food. My tears drop into the water that I drink. It seems that you have picked me up, and then you have thrown me away.
- Psalms 127:2It will not help you to work all day for food, and never stop. God gives food to the people that he loves. Even while they sleep, God takes care of them.
- Ezekiel 4:16Then God said to me, ‘Son of man, I will soon take away the bread in Jerusalem. The people will have to measure the food that they eat. And they will have to measure the water that they drink. They will worry and be afraid.
- 2 Kings 1:2At this time, Ahaziah was king of Israel. He lived in the city of Samaria. One day he fell from the window of an upstairs room in his palace. He became very ill. So he sent men to the temple of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron. He told them, ‘Ask their god if I will become well again after my disease.’
- 2 Kings 5:27Now you will have the same disease in your skin that Naaman had! It will always be with you and your descendants.’ Then Gehazi went away from Elisha. His skin had already become white like snow because of the disease.
- 2 Chronicles 16:10Asa was angry with the prophet, so he put him in prison. At that time Asa also started to do cruel things to some people.
- 2 Chronicles 24:24Syria's army was very small but the Lord gave them power over Judah's large army. He did that because Judah's people had turned away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors. Syria's army punished Joash as he deserved.
- Psalms 90:7Your anger destroys us, and we become very afraid.
- Proverbs 1:27Fear may hit you like a strong wind. Trouble may knock you down, like a storm. Your problems may make you very afraid. But I will laugh at you.
- Acts 12:23Herod let the people praise him, instead of God. So, immediately, an angel of the Lord God caused him to become very ill. Worms ate his body and later he died.
- 1 Corinthians 11:30That is why many of you are weak and sick. Some of you have even died because of this.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17All his days also he eateth in darkness - Even his enjoyments are embittered by uncertainty. He fears for his goods; the possibility of being deprived of them fills his heart with anguish. But instead of יאכל yochel, "he shall eat," ילך yelech, "he shall walk," is the reading of several MSS. He walks in darkness - he has no evidence of salvation. There is no ray of light from God to penetrate the gloom; and all beyond life is darkness impenetrable! And…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Hath much sorrow - Rather, is very sad and hath pain and vexation.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
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-17Working just to gain possessions is like chasing the wind; it causes frustration, discouragement, and anger.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. eateth--appropriately put for "liveth" in general, as connected with Ec 5:11, 12, 18. darkness--opposed to "light (joy) of countenance" (Ec 8:1; Pr 16:15). wrath--fretfulness, literally, "His sorrow is much, and his infirmity (of body) and wrath."Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 5:17
In the dictionaries
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
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