Ecclesiastes 5:16

And this also [is] a painful evil, just as he came, so he goeth, and what advantage [is] to him who laboureth for wind?

Young's Literal Translation

In The King James Version

And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

In Context

15As he came out from the belly of his mother, naked he turneth back to go as he came, and he taketh not away anything of his labour, that doth go in his hand.

17Also all his days in darkness he consumeth, and sadness, and wrath, and sickness abound.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 5

Cross References

1 Samuel 12:21and ye do not turn aside after the vain things which do not profit nor deliver, for they [are] vain,

Ecclesiastes 1:3What advantage [is] to man by all his labour that he laboureth at under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 5:13There is a painful evil I have seen under the sun: wealth kept for its possessor, for his evil.

Jeremiah 2:8The priests have not said, 'Where [is] Jehovah?' And those handling the law have not known Me. And the shepherds transgressed against Me, And the prophets have prophesied by Baal, And after those who profit not have gone.

Mark 8:36for what shall it profit a man, if he may gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 5:16