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Selected Verse: Ecclesiates 5:16 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Ec 5:16 |
King James |
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? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Even supposing that he loses not his wealth before death, then at least he must go stripped of it all (Psa 49:17).
laboured for the wind-- (Hos 12:1; Co1 9:26). |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
A transition is now made to rich men as such, and the registering formula which should go before Ecc 5:14 here follows: "And this also is a sore evil: altogether exactly as he came, thus shall he depart: and what gain hath he that laboureth in the wind?" Regarding זה; and regarding כּל־ע שׁ,
(Note: I n H. written as one word: כּלעמת. Parchon (Lex. under עמת) had this form before him. In his Lex. Kimchi bears evidence in favour of the correct writing as two words.)
The writing of these first two as one word [vid. note below] accords with Ibn-Giat's view, accidentally quoted by Kimchi, that the word is compounded of כ of comparison, and the frequently occurring לעמּת always retaining its ל, and ought properly to be pointed כּלע (cf. מלּ, Kg1 7:20). עמּה signifies combination, society, one thing along with or parallel to another; and thus לעמת bears no כ, since it is itself a word of comparison, כּל־עמּת "altogether parallel," "altogether the same." The question: what kind of advantage (vid., Ecc 1:3) is to him (has he) of this that ... , carries its answer in itself. Labouring for the wind or in the wind, his labour is רוּח (רעיון) רעוּת, and thus fruitless. And, moreover, how miserable an existence is this life of labour leading to nothing! |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| The wind - For riches, which are empty and unsatisfying, uncertain and transitory, which no man can hold or stay in its course, all which are the properties of the wind. |
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1 Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.
17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter.
14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.