What Does Ecclesiastes 5:13 Mean in the King James?

There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

Ecclesiastes 5:13 · KJV

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 Hebrew repeats the same root for “evil” and “hurt”: the harm to the owner is the very evil the verse names.

THE MEANING

Riches can be guarded and still become an injury to the person who owns them. The Hebrew uses the same word-family for the opening “evil” and the ending “hurt,” joining the condition and its consequence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that wealth kept safely must be keeping its owner safe.

THE ROOT

רָעָה

ra'ah

GROWS FROM

רעע

r-ʿ-ʿ

To be bad or bring harm.

“evil / hurt” in this verse is ra'ah. The KJV gives “evil” and “hurt” as separate ideas, while the Hebrew repeats the same root. The verse’s evil is not merely that riches exist: the harm to their owner is part of what that evil means.

ALSO GROWS

raʿ: Bad, evil.

רַע

This form echoes the verse’s opening diagnosis: “a sore evil.”

ra'ah: Evil, harm, or calamity.

רָעָה

This form appears again in “to their hurt,” linking the named evil to its effect on the owner.

שָׁמוּר

shamur

GROWS FROM

שמר

sh-m-r

To guard, keep, or watch over.

“kept” in this verse is shamur. The riches are not merely present; they are being guarded. This root carries the sense of watchful keeping, giving the verse’s image an active quality.

ALSO GROWS

shomer: Keeper or watchman.

שֹׁמֵר

This branch names the one who watches over something, making the vigilance inside “kept” visible.

mishmeret: Guard duty, charge, or watch.

מִשְׁמֶרֶת

This branch shows keeping as an ongoing watch, not simply ownership.

THE PATTERN

What is guarded for its owner’s security can become harm to the owner.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

Proverbs 11:24 · KJVWithholding more than is fitting can lead toward poverty rather than secure increase.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Matthew 6:19 · KJVStored treasure remains exposed to loss even while its owner tries to keep it.

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?

Luke 12:20 · KJVThe possessions gathered for the future cannot secure their owner’s life or remain theirs.

THE THREAD

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Genesis 2:15 · KJV

“Keep” here is the same Hebrew root, ⁨שמר⁩ (shamar), meaning to guard or watch over, as “kept” in Ecclesiastes. Genesis joins this keeping to tending a garden; Ecclesiastes joins it to riches that harm their owner, placing two objects of vigilance side by side.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us