Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 5:16
This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Preacher addresses his audience in Ecclesiastes to confront the vanity of human ambition. He speaks at a moment of stark reflection on mortality, immediately after describing how humans enter and leave life with nothing.
The words — The phrase זֹה רָעָה חוֹלָה (zoh ra'ah cholah) translates literally as "this is an evil severe affliction." The clause כָּל־עֻמַּת שֶׁבָּא כֵּן (kol-'umat she-ba ken) means "exactly as he came, so he departs."
The thread — The motif of toiling for wind appears in Ecclesiastes 1:3 and Proverbs 11:29, while the question of earthly gain versus eternal loss echoes in Mark 8:36. These references trace a consistent biblical warning against valuing temporary accumulation over lasting substance.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that mortal life ends identically to how it begins, rendering relentless wealth accumulation futile. It asks the reader to abandon the pursuit of earthly hoarding and acknowledge the limits of human control.
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
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?
Cross-references
- Proverbs 11:29 He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise of heart.
- Ecclesiastes 1:3 What does a man gain from all his labor, at which he toils under the sun?
- Mark 8:36 What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
- Ecclesiastes 5:13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
- John 6:27 Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
- 1 Samuel 12:21 Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
- Ecclesiastes 2:22 For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?
- Isaiah 26:18 We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.
- Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.
- Hosea 8:7 For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.