Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 5:11
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?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses those pursuing wealth accumulation, placing this observation between a warning against loving money and a contrast with the rich man's sleepless anxiety.
The words — רְבוֹת (revot) translates as "when it increases," and אוֹכְלֶיהָ (okhleiha) means "those who consume it."
The thread — The text's claim that increased goods only attract more consumers runs parallel to Psalm 119:36, which prays against covetous gain, and Habakkuk 2:13, which states that human labor only feeds destruction.
Why it lands — It asserts that material accumulation yields no practical advantage, as expanded resources merely multiply consumers and leave the owner with nothing but visual possession, demanding a rejection of wealth as a source of security.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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?
Cross-references
- 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- Habakkuk 2:13 Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
- Psalms 119:36 Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.
- Proverbs 23:5 When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
- Ecclesiastes 6:9 Better what the eye can see than the wandering of desire. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Genesis 12:16 He treated Abram well on her account, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
- Genesis 13:2 And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
- Genesis 13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
- Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful cloak from Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
- 1 Kings 5:13 Then King Solomon conscripted a labor force of 30,000 men from all Israel.