Ecclesiastes 5:14

14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

Ecclesiastes 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 5:14

But those riches perish by evil travail
Or, "by an evil business or affair" ^F14. That is, such riches as are not well got, or are not used as they should be, these waste away and come to nothing; either by the owner's bad management, and misconduct in trade and business; or by fire, tempest, thieves, and robbers, and many other ways and means: these are very certain things; and there are various ways by which they make themselves wings and flee away, under the direction of a divine providence; and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand;
the riches he had hoarded up, he designed for his son; but being stripped of them by one means or another, when he comes to die, has nothing to leave his son: or if his riches do not perish in his own lifetime, yet they are quickly consumed by his son, who, in a short time, has nothing to live upon; and so being brought up a gentleman, and in no business, is in a worse condition than such who have been brought up to work for their living, and in no expectation of an estate after the decease of their friends. The Targum understands it in this latter sense, paraphrasing the words thus,

``and those riches, which he shall leave his son after his death, shall perish, because he hath gotten them in an evil way; and they shall not remain in the hand of the son whom he hath begotten; neither shall anything remain in his hand.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (er Nyneb) "occupatione, negotio, vel casu malo", Gejerus.

Ecclesiastes 5:14 In-Context

12 Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt,

14 and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand.

15 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what gain is there to him who toils for the wind?