Ecclesiastes 5:14

14 or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.

Ecclesiastes 5:14 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 5:14

But those riches perish by evil travail
Or, "by an evil business or affair" ^F14. That is, such riches as are not well got, or are not used as they should be, these waste away and come to nothing; either by the owner's bad management, and misconduct in trade and business; or by fire, tempest, thieves, and robbers, and many other ways and means: these are very certain things; and there are various ways by which they make themselves wings and flee away, under the direction of a divine providence; and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand;
the riches he had hoarded up, he designed for his son; but being stripped of them by one means or another, when he comes to die, has nothing to leave his son: or if his riches do not perish in his own lifetime, yet they are quickly consumed by his son, who, in a short time, has nothing to live upon; and so being brought up a gentleman, and in no business, is in a worse condition than such who have been brought up to work for their living, and in no expectation of an estate after the decease of their friends. The Targum understands it in this latter sense, paraphrasing the words thus,

``and those riches, which he shall leave his son after his death, shall perish, because he hath gotten them in an evil way; and they shall not remain in the hand of the son whom he hath begotten; neither shall anything remain in his hand.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (er Nyneb) "occupatione, negotio, vel casu malo", Gejerus.

Ecclesiastes 5:14 In-Context

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.

13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

14 or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.

15 As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.

16 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?