Ecclesiastes 5:13

Here is ¹  a misfortune ²  on earth ³  that I have seen: Wealth hoarded by its owner to his own misery.

I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt.

There is another serious problem I have seen in the world. Riches are sometimes hoarded to the harm of the saver,

Here's a piece of bad luck I've seen happen: A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him

There is a great evil which I have seen under the sun—wealth kept by the owner to be his downfall.

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

There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.

Here is ¹  a misfortune ²  on earth ³  that I have seen: Wealth hoarded by its owner to his own misery.

¹ tn Heb “there is.” The term יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is”) is often used in aphorisms to assert the existence of a particular situation that occurs sometimes. It may indicate that the situation is not the rule but that it does occur on occasion, and may be nuanced “sometimes” (e.g., Prov 11:24; 13:7, 23; 14:12; 16:25; 18:24; 20:15; Eccl 2:21; 4:8; 5:12; 6:1; 7:15 [2x]; 8:14 [3x]).

² tn The noun רָעָה (ra’ah, “evil”) probably means “misfortune” (HALOT 1263 s.v. רָעָה 4) or “injustice, wrong” (HALOT 1262 s.v. רָעָה 2.b). The phrase רָעָה רַבָּה (ra’ah rabbah) connotes “grave injustice” or “great misfortune” (Eccl 2:17; 5:12, 15; 6:1; 10:5).

³ tn Heb “under the sun.”