13 There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
14 But those riches perish through misfortune; when he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return, to go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a severe evil—just exactly as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?
17 All his days he also eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
hurt (v.13) = grief, sorrow
v.14 — A man gathers riches to pass on to his heirs, but misfortune wipes out his riches, which leaves him with nothing.
v.15 — Job 1:21
The answer to the question in v.16 is an emphatic “Nothing!”
eats in darkness (v.17) — an idiom that describes spending life gloomy and without cheer.
much sorrow and sickness and anger (v.17) — The rich man who loses his wealth can’t deal with the loss. He becomes so sad and angry that he makes himself sick.
A climax is reached in verse 13. First, the Preacher has shown the inability of riches to satisfy. Then he has shown how they rob a man of sleep; finally he points out that the keeping of riches is an evil in itself. The man who has struggled for riches considered them good, but in reality they are evil. This applies of course to a man who is totally absorbed with life under the sun. Such a man keeps riches to his own hurt. There is a tragic prophecy in Isaiah 22:23ff. that illustrates the Preacher’s point. The man who accumulates wealth is like a nail fastened to the wall upon which an unbearable burden has been placed. After a time the burden crashes to the floor. Man and nails can bear only so much. Greed results in a man placing upon himself unbearable burdens, and the end of that foolishness is destruction. Worse than that, the fortune that he has killed himself to accumulate can be lost in a moment; and he can be reduced to such penury that there will be nothing in his hand. Even if he doesn’t lose his possessions, he will certainly be separated from them in death. He came into this world naked, and he will go into eternity in similar fashion. He will carry nothing away in his hand (1 Timothy 6:7). Truly, such a man has labored for the wind and has reaped the whirlwind. All his day shave been spent in darkness, sickness, and anger. He has found no profit in his journey. He whose god is mammon is a man to be pitied — KJV Commentary, page 744.
