Ecclesiastes 5:8–15

The Vanity of Riches

⁸If you see ^aoppression of the poor and ^brobbery of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be ^castonished over the ¹matter; for a lofty one keeps watch over another lofty one, and there are loftier ones over them.

⁹But the advantage of the land in everything is this—a king committed to a cultivated field.

^10aHe who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its produce. This too is ¹vanity.

^11aWhen good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the success to their masters except to look on with their eyes?

¹²The sleep of the laboring man is ^asweet, whether he eats little or much; but the satisfaction of the rich man does not ¹allow him to sleep.

¹³There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: ^ariches being ¹hoarded by their master to his own evil demise.

¹⁴And those riches were lost through a bad endeavor; and he became the father of a son, but there was nothing in his hand for him.

^15aAs he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will ^bcarry nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can bring in his hand.