Ecclesiastes 5:10

10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
English Standard Version (ESV)
10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.
New Living Translation (NLT)
10 Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!
The Message Bible (MSG)
10 The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, Nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke.
American Standard Version (ASV)
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
10 Whoever loves money will never be satisfied with money. Whoever loves wealth will never be satisfied with more income. Even this is pointless.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
10 The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth [is] never [satisfied] with income. This too is futile.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
10 Anyone who loves money never has enough. Anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with what he gets. That doesn't have any meaning either.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 5:10

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver
The tillage of the earth is necessary, a very laudable and useful employment, and men do well to busy themselves in it; without this, neither the common people nor the greatest personages can be supplied with the necessaries of life; but then an immoderate love of money is criminal, which is here meant by loving silver, one kind of money, which when loved beyond measure is the root of all evil; and besides, when a man has got ever so much of it, he is not satisfied, he still wants more, like the horse leech at the vein cries Give, give; or he cannot eat silver, so Jarchi; or be "fed with money", as Mr. Broughton renders it; and herein the fruits of the earth, for which the husbandman labours, have the preference to silver; for these he can eat, and be filled and satisfied with them, but he cannot eat his bags of gold and silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase;
that is, he that coveteth a great deal of this world's things shall not be satisfied with the increase of them, let that be what it will; or, he shall have "no increase" F6, be ever the better for his abundance, or enjoy the comfort and benefit of it: or, "he that loveth abundance [from whence there is] no increase" F7; that loves to have a multitude of people about him, as manservants and maidservants; a large equipage, as Aben Ezra suggests, which are of very little use and service, or none at all; this [is] also vanity:
the immoderate love of money, coveting large estates and possessions, and to have a train of servants. Jarchi allegorically interprets silver and abundance, of the commands, and the multitude of them.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (hawbt al) "non erit proventus illi", Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus; "nullum fructum percipit", Tigurine version.
F7 "Qui amat copiam, sc. multitudinem ex qua non est sperandus profectus", Schmidt, so Gussetius.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 In-Context

8 If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still.
9 The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.
11 As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them?
12 The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep.
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