Ecclesiastes 5:10–20

¹⁰The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. ¹¹When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? ¹²The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.

¹³There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. ^g14That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed. ¹⁵As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; ^hhe will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. ¹⁶This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain ⁱwho struggles for the wind? ^j17What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, ^kwith much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good: ^lit is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. ^m19God has also given riches and wealth to every man, ⁿand He has allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. ^oThis is a gift of God, ^p20for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.