Ecclesiastes 5:16

Modern

This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

Traditional

And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

Literal

And this also is a sickening evil: Exactly as, he came, so shall he go, and what profit is for him who has toiled for the wind?

Latin

Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas: quomodo venit, sic revertetur. Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum?

Hebrew

English

This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?

Working just to gain possessions is like chasing the wind; it causes frustration, discouragement, and anger.

Theme notes and profiles

Proverbs 11:29
He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
Ecclesiastes 1:3
What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
Mark 8:36
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
John 6:27
Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
Ecclesiastes 5:13
There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
Ecclesiastes 2:22–23
For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?
Isaiah 26:18
We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.
Hosea 8:7
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.
1 Samuel 12:21
Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
Jeremiah 2:8
The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.