Ecclesiastes 5:15

It is an utterly miserable infirmity that, in the same manner as he has arrived, so shall he return. How then does it benefit him, since he has labored for the wind?

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

In Context

14Just as he went forth naked from his mother’s womb, so shall he return, and he shall take nothing with him from his labors.

16All the days of his life he consumes: in darkness, and with many worries, and in distress as well as sadness.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 5

Cross References

Job 1:21and he said, “Naked I departed from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Just as it pleased the Lord, so has it been done. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Psalms 49:17Truly, you have hated discipline, and you have cast my sermons behind you.

Luke 12:20But God said to him: ‘Foolish one, this very night they require your soul of you. To whom, then, will those things belong, which you have prepared?’

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 5:10-18

The Vanity of Riches. 9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. 10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 11 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? 12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.… Read the whole commentary →

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