Ecclesiastes 5:14

14 That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed.

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 permits him no sleep.

13 There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

14 That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed.

15 As he came from his mother's womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands.

16 This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does he gain who struggles for the wind?