New American Standard Bible 1995

Ecclesiastes 5:9-20

9After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.

10 1He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is 2vanity. 11 3When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to 4look on? 12The sleep of the working man is 5pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the 6full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

13There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: 7riches being 8hoarded by their owner to his hurt. 14When those riches were lost through 9a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing 10to support him. 15 11As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will 12take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. 16This also is a grievous evil--exactly as a man 13is born, thus will he 14die. So 15what is the advantage to him who 16toils for the wind? 17Throughout his life 17he also eats in darkness with 18great vexation, sickness and anger.

18Here is what I have seen to be 19good and 20fitting: to eat, to drink and 21enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few 22years of his life which God has given him; for this is his 23 24reward. 19Furthermore, as for every man to whom 25God has given riches and wealth, He has also 26empowered him to eat from them and to receive his 27reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the 28gift of God. 20For he will not often 29consider the 30years of his life, because 31God keeps 32him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 5

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 5:10 Eccl 1:8; 2:10, 11; 4:8 ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 5:10 Or futility ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 5:11 Eccl 2:9 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 5:11 Lit see with their eyes ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 5:12 Prov 3:24 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 5:12 Lit satiety ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 5:13 Eccl 6:2 ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 5:13 Lit guarded ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 5:14 Lit an evil task ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 5:14 Lit in his hand ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 5:15 Job 1:21 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 5:15 Ps 49:17; 1 Tim 6:7 ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit comes ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit go ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 5:16 Eccl 1:3; 2:11; 3:9 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 5:16 Prov 11:29 ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 5:17 Ps 127:2 ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 5:17 Eccl 2:23 ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Eccl 2:24 ↩
20. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit beautiful ↩
21. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit see good ↩
22. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or days ↩
23. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or share ↩
24. Ecclesiastes 5:18 Eccl 2:10 ↩
25. Ecclesiastes 5:19 2 Chr 1:12; Eccl 6:2 ↩
26. Ecclesiastes 5:19 Eccl 6:2 ↩
27. Ecclesiastes 5:19 Or share ↩
28. Ecclesiastes 5:19 Eccl 3:13 ↩
29. Ecclesiastes 5:20 Lit remember ↩
30. Ecclesiastes 5:20 Or days ↩
31. Ecclesiastes 5:20 Ex 23:25 ↩
32. Ecclesiastes 5:20 So with Gr ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5