Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 5:13
There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses a general audience in Ecclesiastes, making this observation immediately after contrasting the laborer’s rest with the rich man’s sleepless anxiety over his accumulated property.
The words — עֹ֛שֶׁר ('O.sher) means wealth, and שָׁמ֥וּר (sha.Mur) indicates it is being guarded or hoarded.
The thread — The text records this as a grievous evil under the sun, a pattern repeated in Ecclesiastes 6:1 and paralleled in Jesus’ instruction in Luke 18:22 to relinquish possessions.
Why it lands — The verse states that hoarded wealth actively damages its owner rather than protecting him, requiring a reader to assess whether accumulation serves genuine need or self-inflicted harm.
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
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 6:1 There is another evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily upon mankind:
- Luke 18:22 On hearing this, Jesus told him, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.”
- Genesis 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
- Luke 16:22 One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
- James 5:1 Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you.
- Genesis 14:16 He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.
- Proverbs 1:11 If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,
- Proverbs 1:19 Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
- Proverbs 1:32 For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
- Proverbs 11:4 Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.