Ecclesiastes 5:8-19

Ecclesiastes 5:8-19 AMP

If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight [of corruption]; for a higher official watches over another official, and there are higher ones over them [looking out for one another]. After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its gain. This too is vanity (emptiness). When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what advantage is there to their owners except to see them with their eyes? The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach (greed) of the rich [who hungers for even more] will not let him sleep. There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being kept and hoarded by their owner to his own misery. For when those riches are lost in bad investments and he becomes the father of a son, then there is nothing in his hand [for the support of the child]. As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came; and he will take away nothing from all his labor that he can carry in his hand. [Job 1:21; 1 Tim 6:7] This also is a grievous evil—exactly as he was born, so he shall die. So what advantage has he who labors for the wind? [1 Tim 6:6] All of his life he also eats in darkness [cheerlessly, without sweetness and light], with great frustration, sickness, and anger. Behold, here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in all the labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God gives him—for this is his [allotted] reward. [1 Tim 6:17] Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, He has also given the power and ability to enjoy them and to receive [this as] his [allotted] portion and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God [to him].

Read Ecclesiastes 5