What Does Ecclesiastes 5:11 Mean in the King James?
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew root makes both prosperity and its eaters increase, while the owner’s only stated gain is the sight of it.
THE MEANING
When what you have grows, more mouths draw from it, so its size alone does not tell you what it gives you. The verse measures the owner’s good with unsettling precision: the possession remains before the eyes, and seeing it is the only benefit named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a larger store guarantees a larger personal return. Increase can enlarge the number who consume it while leaving the owner with no benefit beyond looking.
THE ROOT
רְבוֹת
revot
GROWS FROM
רבה
The three-letter root רָבָה (ravah) means to become many, grow, increase, or multiply.
“increase / are increased” in this verse is revot. The verse uses this root first for the increase of goods and then for the multiplication of their eaters. Hebrew gives both movements the same seed: as the store grows, so does the number who consume it.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Many, great, or abundant.
רַב
This related form carries the sense of quantity, echoing the verse’s movement from more goods to more eaters.
harbeh: Much, many, or abundantly.
הַרְבֵּה
This form shows the root’s reach across abundance and number, the two sides of the increase described here.
רְאוּת
re'ut
GROWS FROM
ראה
The three-letter root רָאָה (ra’ah) means to see, look, or perceive.
“beholding” in this verse is re'ut. The owner’s named benefit is not use, control, or satisfaction, but רְאוּת (re’ut), seeing. The possession ends up as something before the eyes: the owner’s part is to look at it.
ALSO GROWS
mar'eh: Appearance, sight, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch brings the verse’s final benefit into focus: what the owner has is an appearance to look upon.
ro'eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The root can name the one who sees, illuminating the owner’s position here as an observer of the accumulated goods.
THE PATTERN
Accumulated wealth cannot secure its owner’s lasting share: it can be consumed by others, gathered by someone else, or left behind at death.
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.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.THE THREAD
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.Ecclesiastes 5:10 uses the same root רבה (ravah, to increase) in the phrase “with increase.” The next verse makes that root’s consequence visible: as goods grow, their eaters multiply, while the owner’s stated benefit narrows to sight.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us