Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? New Living Translation The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! English Standard Version When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Berean Standard Bible When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes? King James Bible When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? New King James Version When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? New American Standard Bible When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look at them? NASB 1995 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? NASB 1977 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? Legacy Standard Bible When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the success to their masters except to look on with their eyes? Amplified Bible When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what advantage is there to their owners except to see them with their eyes? Christian Standard Bible When 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? Holman Christian Standard Bible When 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? American Standard Version When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes? Aramaic Bible in Plain English In the abundance of good its consumers have increased, and what is the profit to its owner except only the sight of his eyes? Brenton Septuagint Translation In the multitude of good they are increased that eat it: and what virtue has the owner, but the right of beholding it with his eyes? Contemporary English Version The more you have, the more everyone expects from you. Your money won't do you any good--others will just spend it for you. Douay-Rheims Bible Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes? English Revised Version When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, saving the beholding of them with his eyes? GOD'S WORD® Translation As the number of goods increase, so do the number of people who consume them. What do owners gain [from all their goods] except [the opportunity] to look at them? Good News Translation The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. International Standard Version When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them? JPS Tanakh 1917 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, saving the beholding of them with his eyes? Literal Standard Version In the multiplying of good have its consumers been multiplied, and what benefit [is] to its possessor except the sight of his eyes? Majority Standard Bible When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes? New American Bible Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except as a feast for the eyes alone? NET Bible When someone's prosperity increases, those who consume it also increase; so what does its owner gain, except that he gets to see it with his eyes? New Revised Standard Version When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes? New Heart English Bible When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? Webster's Bible Translation When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners of them, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? World English Bible When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? Young's Literal Translation In the multiplying of good have its consumers been multiplied, and what benefit is to its possessor except the sight of his eyes? Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context The Futility of Wealth…10He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile. 11When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes? 12The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.… Cross References Ecclesiastes 2:9 So I became great and surpassed all in Jerusalem who had preceded me; and my wisdom remained with me. Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep. Treasury of Scripture When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? they Genesis 12:16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. Genesis 13:2,5-7 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold… 1 Kings 4:22,23 And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, … what Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire: this is also vanity and vexation of spirit. Ecclesiastes 11:9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. Joshua 7:21-25 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it… Jump to Previous Advantage Beholding Benefit Consume Eat Except Eyes Feast Gain Good Goods Increase Increased Multiplied Multiplying Owner Owners Possessor Profit Save Saving Sight ThereofJump to Next Advantage Beholding Benefit Consume Eat Except Eyes Feast Gain Good Goods Increase Increased Multiplied Multiplying Owner Owners Possessor Profit Save Saving Sight ThereofEcclesiastes 5 1. vanities in divine service8. in murmuring against oppression 9. and in riches 18. Joy in riches is the gift of God. Verse 11. - Koheleth proceeds to notice some of the inconveniences which accompany wealth, which go far to prove that God is over all. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them. The more riches a man possesses, the greater are the claims upon him. He increases his household, retainers, and dependents, and is really none the better off for all his wealth. So Job in his prosperous days is said to have had "a very great household" (Job 1:3), and the servants and laborers employed by Solomon must have taxed to the utmost even his abnormal resources (1 Kings 5:13, etc.). Commentators from Piueda downwards have quoted the remarkable parallel in Xenoph., 'Cyropaed.,' 8:3, wherein the wealthy Persian Pheraulas, who had risen from poverty to high estate, disabuses a young Sacian friend of the idea that his riches made him happier or afforded supreme content. "Do you not know," said he," that I neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep with any more pleasure now than I did when I was poor? by having this abundance I gain merely this, that I have to guard more, to distribute more among others, and to have the trouble of taking care of more. For now numerous domestics demand of me food, drink, clothes; some want the doctor; one comes and brings me sheep that have been torn by wolves, or oxen killed by failing down a precipice, or tells of a murrain that has affected the cattle; so that I seem to myself to have more afflictions in my abundance than I had when I was poor,... It is obligatory on him who possesses much to expend much both on the gods and on friends and on strangers; and whosoever is greatly pleased with the possession of riches will, you may be assured, be greatly annoyed at the expenditure of them." What good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? What it is that the owners behold is doubtful. Ginsburg considers that the increased number of devourers is meant; but surely this sight could hardly be called kishron, "success, profit." So it is better to take the sight to be the amassed wealth. The contemplation of this is the only enjoyment that the possessor realizes. So the Vulgate, Et quid prodest possessori, nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis? Septuagint, Καὶ τί ἀνδρεία τῷ παρ αὐτῆς ὅτι ἀρχὴ τοῦ ὁρᾷν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ," And in what does the excellence of the owner consist? except the power of seeing it with his eyes." A Lapide quotes Horace's portrait of the miser ('Sat.,' 1:1.66, sqq.) "Populus me sibilat; ut mihi plaudo "He, when the people hissed, would turn about, O'er countless heaps in nicest order stored, Hebrew When good thingsהַטּוֹבָ֔ה (haṭ·ṭō·w·ḇāh) Article | Noun - feminine singular Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good increase, בִּרְבוֹת֙ (bir·ḇō·wṯ) Preposition-b | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great so do רַבּ֖וּ (rab·bū) Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great those who consume them; אוֹכְלֶ֑יהָ (’ō·wḵ·le·hā) Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular Strong's 398: To eat what then וּמַה־ (ū·mah-) Conjunctive waw | Interrogative Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what is the profit כִּשְׁרוֹן֙ (kiš·rō·wn) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 3788: Success, advantage to the owner, לִבְעָלֶ֔יהָ (liḇ·‘ā·le·hā) Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular Strong's 1167: A master, a husband, owner except כִּ֖י (kî) Conjunction Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction to behold them רְא֥וּת (rə·’ūṯ) Noun - feminine singular construct Strong's 7200: To see with his eyes? עֵינָֽיו׃ (‘ê·nāw) Noun - cdc | third person masculine singular Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain Links Ecclesiastes 5:11 NIVEcclesiastes 5:11 NLT Ecclesiastes 5:11 ESV Ecclesiastes 5:11 NASB Ecclesiastes 5:11 KJV Ecclesiastes 5:11 BibleApps.com Ecclesiastes 5:11 Biblia Paralela Ecclesiastes 5:11 Chinese Bible Ecclesiastes 5:11 French Bible Ecclesiastes 5:11 Catholic Bible OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 5:11 When goods increase those who eat them (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.) |
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