Ecclesiastes 5:8–15

⁸If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.^{* 9}But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field.^m

¹⁰The lover of money will not be satisfied with money, nor the lover of wealth with gain. This also is vanity.^*

¹¹When goods increase, those who eat them increase, and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes?

¹²Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich will not let them sleep.^*

¹³There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,^{* 14}and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. ¹⁵As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil that they may carry away with their hands.^*