But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
- BSB or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.
- NKJV But those riches perish through misfortune; When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
- NASB When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him.
- NLT Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hoarded riches can be lost through misfortune, leaving even a man's son with nothing to inherit. It matters because earthly wealth is fragile and offers no guaranteed security.
Overview
The Preacher illustrates how quickly fortunes vanish through a 'bad venture' or calamity, leaving heirs empty-handed. The instability of riches exposes the folly of trusting them. This realism prepares the reader to seek a more enduring inheritance, the imperishable inheritance kept in heaven for those who belong to Christ (1 Peter 1:4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Eccl 2:26For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
- Matt 6:19–20Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
- Hag 2:16–17Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
- Job 20:15–29He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
- Job 5:5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
- Prov 23:5Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
- Hag 1:9Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
- 1 Sam 2:36And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
- Job 27:16–17Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
- 1 Kgs 14:26And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
- 1 Sam 2:6–8The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
- Ps 39:6Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
- Ps 109:9–12Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 5:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.