Ecclesiastes 5:12 Parallel Translations

The sleep of working people is sweet, whether they eat a little or a lot. But the full stomachs that rich people have will not allow them to sleep.(GOD'S WORD®)

KJV:

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

ASV:

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

BBE:

The sleep of a working man is sweet, if he has little food or much; but to him who is full, sleep will not come.

DBY:

The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the rich doth not suffer him to sleep.

ERV:

The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

JPS:

Sweet is the sleep of a labouring man, whether he eat little or much; but the satiety of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

WBS:

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eateth little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

WEB:

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

YLT:

Sweet is the sleep of the labourer whether he eat little or much; and the sufficiency of the wealthy is not suffering him to sleep.

Ecclesiastes 5:12 Cross References

XREF:

Commentaries and Concordances

GSB:

5:12 The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eateth little or much: but the {i} abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
(i) That is, his great abundance of riches, or the surfeiting, which comes by his great feeding.

MHC:

5:9-17 The goodness of Providence is more equally distributed than appears to a careless observer. The king needs the common things of life, and the poor share them; they relish their morsel better than he does his luxuries. There are bodily desires which silver itself will not satisfy, much less will worldly abundance satisfy spiritual desires. The more men have, the better house they must keep, the more servants they must employ, the more guests they must entertain, and the more they will have hanging on them. The sleep of the labourer is sweet, not only because he is tired, but because he has little care to break his sleep. The sleep of the diligent Christian, and his long sleep, are sweet; having spent himself and his time in the service of God, he can cheerfully repose in God as his Rest. But those who have every thing else, often fail to secure a good night's sleep; their abundance breaks their rest. Riches do hurt, and draw away the heart from God and duty. Men do hurt with their riches, not only gratifying their own lusts, but oppressing others, and dealing hardly with them. They will see that they have laboured for the wind, when, at death, they find the profit of their labour is all gone like the wind, they know not whither. How ill the covetous worldling bears the calamities of human life! He does not sorrow to repentance, but is angry at the providence of God, angry at all about him; which doubles his affliction.

CONC:

Abundance Allow Eat Eaten Eateth Eats Full Fulness Laborer Laboring Labourer Labouring Permits Pleasant Rich Satiety Sleep Stomach Suffer Suffering Sufficiency Surfeit Sweet Wealthy Whether Working

Abundance Allow Eat Eaten Eateth Eats Food Full Fulness Laborer Laboring Permits Pleasant Rich Satiety Sleep Stomach Suffer Suffering Sufficiency Surfeit Sweet Wealthy Whether Working

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GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved.

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