Ecclesiastes 6:2

A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
man	אִ֣ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
God	הָאֱלֹהִ֡ים ha.'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
given	יִתֶּן yi.ten-	H5414	to give · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
riches	עֹשֶׁר֩ 'o.Sher	H6239	wealth · noun, common masculine singular absolute
wealth	וּנְכָסִ֨ים u.ne.kha.Sim	H5233	treasure · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
honour	וְכָב֜וֹד ve.kha.Vod	H3519	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wanteth	חָסֵ֥ר cha.Ser	H2638	lacking · adjective, masculine singular absolute
soul	לְנַפְשׁ֣וֹ le.naf.Sho	H5315	properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
desireth	יִתְאַוֶּ֗ה yit.'a.Veh	H183	to wish for · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
God	הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ ha.'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
power	יַשְׁלִיטֶ֤נּוּ yash.li.Te.nu	H7980	to dominate · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
eat	לֶאֱכֹ֣ל le.'e.Khol	H398	to eat (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
stranger	אִ֥ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
eateth	יֹֽאכֲלֶ֑נּוּ yo.kha.Le.nu	H398	to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
vanity	הֶ֛בֶל He.vel	H1892	emptiness or vanity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
evil	רָ֖ע ra'	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
disease	וָחֳלִ֥י vo.cho.Li	H2483	malady · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Ecclesiastes 5:19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in…
Psalms 17:14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid…
Psalms 73:7 Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
1 Kings 3:13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto…
Lamentations 5:2 Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens.
Job 21:9-15 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Psalms 39:6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
Daniel 5:18 O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour:

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

Solomon had shown, in the close of the foregoing chapter, how good it is to make a comfortable use of the gifts of God's providence; now here he shows the evil of the contrary, having and not using, gathering to lay up for I know not what contingent emergencies to come, not to lay out on the most urgent occasions present. This is an evil which Solomon himself saw under the sun, Ecc 6:1. A great deal of evil there is under the sun. There is a world above the sun where there is no evil, yet God causes his sun to shine upon the evil as well as upon the good, which is an aggravation of the evil. God has lighted up a candle for his servants to work by, but they bury their talent as slothful and u…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 6:2

for his soul--that is, his enjoyment. God giveth him not power to eat--This distinguishes him from the "rich" man in Ecc 5:19. "God hath given" distinguishes him also from the man who got his wealth by "oppression" (Ecc 5:8, Ecc 5:10). stranger--those not akin, nay, even hostile to him (Jer 51:51; Lam 5:2; Hos 7:9). He seems to have it in his "power" to do as he will with his wealth, but an unseen power gives him up to his own avarice: God wills that he should toil for "a stranger" (Ecc 2:26), who has found favor in God's sight.

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 6:2

A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour,.... By "riches" may be meant gold and silver, things which a covetous man is never satisfied with; and by "wealth", cattle, with which farms and fields are stocked: the wealth of men, especially in former times, and in the eastern countries, lay very much in these, as did the wealth of Abraham and Job, Genesis 13:2; and all these, as they are reckoned glorious and honourable in themselves; so they create honour and glory among men, and raise to high and honourable places; and these, as they go, they are usually put together, and are called by the name of honour and glory itself; see Proverbs 3:16. And they are all the gifts of God, whi…

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The Church Fathers

Let none of us entertain the desire for possessions, for what gain is it to acquire those things which we cannot take with us? Why not rather acquire those that we can take: prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, understanding, charity, love of the poor, faith in Christ, gentleness, hospitality? If we obtain these, we shall find them there before us preparing a welcome for us in the land of the meek. LIFE OF ST.
— Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony 17

What good is there for a person in this life? He lives in darkness and cannot be satisfied in his desires. And if he is sated with riches, he loses the enjoyment of his rest, because he is forced to guard the possessions he has acquired through his wretched greed. Thus he possesses them in greater wretchedness, seeing that they can do him no good. For what is more wretched than to be tormented with guarding them and derive no advantage from their abundance?
— Ambrose of Milan, DEATH AS A GOOD 2:4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Riches · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Vanity · Unblessed riches are — Unblessed riches are

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Ecclesiastes 6:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 6:2

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 6:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ecclesiastes 6:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 6:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ecclesiastes 6:2

John Gill on Ecclesiastes 6:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Ecclesiastes 6:2

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ecclesiastes 6:1-2

Rashi on Ecclesiastes 6:2