Ecclesiastes 5:17
New International Version
All their days they eat in darkness, with great frustration, affliction and anger.

New Living Translation
Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.

English Standard Version
Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

Berean Standard Bible
Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

King James Bible
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

New King James Version
All his days he also eats in darkness, And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.

New American Standard Bible
All his life he also eats in darkness with great irritation, sickness, and anger.

NASB 1995
Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

NASB 1977
Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

Legacy Standard Bible
Also, all his days he eats in darkness with much vexation, and his sickness and anger.

Amplified Bible
All of his life he also eats in darkness [cheerlessly, without sweetness and light], with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

Christian Standard Bible
What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much frustration, sickness, and anger.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

American Standard Version
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And also because he consumes his days in darkness and in much anger and in rage and in mourning and in disease and in rage

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Yea, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, and much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath.

Contemporary English Version
Besides all this, they are always gloomy at mealtime, and they are troubled, sick, and bitter.

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

English Revised Version
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed and hath sickness and wrath.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They spend their entire lives in darkness, in constant frustration, sickness, and resentment.

Good News Translation
We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.

International Standard Version
Furthermore, all his days he lives in darkness with great sorrow, anger, and affliction.

JPS Tanakh 1917
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much vexation and sickness and wrath.

Literal Standard Version
He also consumes all his days in darkness, and sadness, and wrath, and sickness abound.

Majority Standard Bible
Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

New American Bible
All their days they eat in gloom with great vexation, sickness and resentment.

NET Bible
Surely, he ate in darkness every day of his life, and he suffered greatly with sickness and anger.

New Revised Standard Version
Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and resentment.

New Heart English Bible
All his days are in darkness and mourning, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

Webster's Bible Translation
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

World English Bible
All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

Young's Literal Translation
Also all his days in darkness he consumeth, and sadness, and wrath, and sickness abound.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Futility of Wealth
16This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind? 17Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger. 18Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.…

Cross References
Psalm 39:6
Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

Psalm 127:2
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for bread to eat--for He gives sleep to His beloved.

Ecclesiastes 2:23
Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.


Treasury of Scripture

All his days also he eats in darkness, and he has much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

he eateth

Genesis 3:17
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

1 Kings 17:12
And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

Job 21:25
And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

much

2 Kings 1:2,6
And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease…

2 Kings 5:27
The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

2 Chronicles 16:10-12
Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time…

Jump to Previous
Abound Affliction Anger Consumeth Dark Darkness Disease Eateth Eats Frustrated Frustration Great Grief Irritation Life Pain Resentment Sadness Sickness Sore Sorrow Spent Throughout Trouble Vexation Vexed Wrath
Jump to Next
Abound Affliction Anger Consumeth Dark Darkness Disease Eateth Eats Frustrated Frustration Great Grief Irritation Life Pain Resentment Sadness Sickness Sore Sorrow Spent Throughout Trouble Vexation Vexed Wrath
Ecclesiastes 5
1. vanities in divine service
8. in murmuring against oppression
9. and in riches
18. Joy in riches is the gift of God.














(17) We pass without notice some variations of translation in this verse, which do not materially affect the sense.

Verse 17. - The misery that accompanies the rich man's whole life is summed up here, where one has to think chiefly of his distress after his loss of fortune. All his days also he eateth in darkness; i.e. passes his life in gloom and cheerlessness. כָּל־יָמָיו, "all his days," is the accusative of time, not the object of the verb. To eat in darkness is not a common metaphor for spending a gloomy life, but it is a very natural one, and has analogies in this book (e.g., Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:13, etc.), and in such phrases as to "sit in darkness" (Micah 7:8), and to "walk in darkness" (Isaiah 1:10). The Septuagint, reading differently, translates, Καί γε πᾶσαι αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτοῦ ἐν σκότει ἐν πένθει, "Yea, and all his days are in darkness and in mourning." But the other versions reject this alteration, and few modern commentators adopt it. And he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness; literally, and much vexation, and sickness, and wrath; Revised Version, he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath. Delitzsch takes the last words as an exclamation, "And oh for his sorrow and hatred!" The man experiences all kinds of vexation when his plans fail or involve him in trouble and privation; or he is morbid and diseased in mind and body; or he is angry and envious when others succeed better than himself. The sentiment is expressed by St. Paul (1 Timothy 6:9), "They that desire (βουλόμενοι) to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men (βυθίουσι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους) in destruction and perdition." "For," he proceeds, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through (ἑαυτοὺς περιέπειραν) with many sorrows." The Septuagint continues its version, "And in much passion (θυμῷ) and in infirmity and wrath." The anger may be directed against himself, as he thinks of his folly in taking all this trouble for nothing.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Moreover,
גַּ֥ם (gam)
Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

his days
יָמָ֖יו (yā·māw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

he eats
יֹאכֵ֑ל (yō·ḵêl)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 398: To eat

in darkness,
בַּחֹ֣שֶׁךְ (ba·ḥō·šeḵ)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

with much
הַרְבֵּ֖ה (har·bêh)
Verb - Hifil - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great

sorrow,
וְכָעַ֥ס (wə·ḵā·‘as)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3708: Vexation, anger

sickness,
וְחָלְי֥וֹ (wə·ḥā·lə·yōw)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2483: Malady, anxiety, calamity

and anger.
וָקָֽצֶף׃ (wā·qā·ṣep̄)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7110: A splinter, rage, strife


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 5:17 All his days he also eats (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 5:16
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