Tree of Life Version
Ecclesiastes 5:14
14As he came from his mother’s womb, naked he will return as he came. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
Ecclesiastes 5:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
- New International Version (NIV)or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit.
- English Standard Version (ESV)and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.
- New King James Version (NKJV)But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
Context of Ecclesiastes 5:14
12There is a grievous wrong that I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded by its owner to his own hurt, 13or wealth lost in a bad investment, and when he fathers a son, there is nothing in his hand. As he came from his mother’s womb, naked he will return as he came. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand. 15This too is a grievous wrong. Just as he came, so will he go, so what does he gain, from his toiling for the wind? 16So, all his days he eats in darkness, and he has much grief, sickness, and humiliation.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 5Ecclesiastes 5:14 word by word
וְאָבַ֛ד הָעֹ֥שֶׁר הַה֖וּא בְּעִנְיַ֣ן רָ֑ע וְהוֹלִ֣יד בֵּ֔ן וְאֵ֥ין בְּיָד֖וֹ מְאֽוּמָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 5:14
- Ecclesiastes 2:26For to the one who pleases Him, He gives wisdom, knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating wealth to give it to one who pleases God. This also is only vapor and striving after the wind.
- Job 5:5The hungry consumes his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pants after their wealth.
- Job 20:15He swallows riches and vomits them up; God empties it out of his stomach.
- Job 27:16Though he piles up silver like dust, and clothing like heaps of mortar,
- Psalms 39:6Behold, You made my days mere hand-breadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Surely all humanity is but vapor. Selah
- Proverbs 23:5When you cast your eyes 0n riches, it is gone; for it surely sprouts wings and flies off into the sky like an eagle.
- Haggai 1:9“You have looked for much, but indeed, there is little. What you have brought home, I have blown away. Why is this?”—it is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot—“because My House lies in ruins, while you are running, each to his own house.
- Haggai 2:16how were things? When one came to a grain-heap of twenty measures, there were ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were twenty.
- Matthew 6:19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
- 1 Samuel 2:6Adonai causes death and makes alive, He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- 1 Kings 14:26He took away the treasures of the House of Adonai and the treasures of the royal palace. He took away everything—even taking all the golden shields that Solomon had made.
- Psalms 109:9May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14And he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand - He has been stripped of his property by unfortunate trade or by plunderers; and he has nothing to leave to his children.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Evil travail - Adverse accident, or unsuccessful employment (compare Ecclesiastes 1:13; Ecclesiastes 4:8).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. 13-14wealth hoarded...wealth lost: Possessions are temporary and can disappear for many reasons.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 13-1413-14. Proofs of God's judgments even in this world (Pr 11:31). The rich oppressor's wealth provokes enemies, robbers, &c. Then, after having kept it for an expected son, he loses it beforehand by misfortune ("by evil travail"), and the son is born to be heir of poverty. Ec 2:19, 23 gives another aspect of the same subject.Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 5:14
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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