Ecclesiastes 5:16 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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?

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

And this also is a serious and severe evil–that in all points as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he who labors for the wind? [I Tim. 6:6.]

American Standard Version (1901)

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?

Common English Bible

This too is a sickening tragedy: they must pass on just as they arrived. What then do they gain from working so hard for wind?

Catholic Public Domain Version

All the days of his life he consumes: in darkness, and with many worries, and in distress as well as sadness.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 5:16 Cross References

Proverbs 11:29

Those who trouble their households will inherit wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.

Ecclesiastes 1:3

What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 2:11

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 3:9

What gain have the workers from their toil?

Ecclesiastes 5:13

There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt,

Isaiah 26:18

we were with child; we writhed, but we gave birth only to wind. We have won no victories on earth, and no one is born to inhabit the world.

Jeremiah 2:8

The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?” Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

Hosea 8:7

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would devour it.

Mark 8:36

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

John 6:27

Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

1 Corinthians 16:16

I urge you to put yourselves at the service of such people and of everyone who works and toils with them.

1 Samuel 12:21

and do not turn aside after useless things that cannot profit or save, for they are useless.