Ecclesiastes 5:15 · Bible study
Ecclesiastes 5:15 Commentary: Naked Departure, Lasting Work?
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Ecclesiastes 5:15: We come naked and go naked, taking nothing from our labor.
Research Summary
- Meaning: We cannot carry earthly possessions beyond the grave; the verse is a warning against hoarding and an invitation to receive each day from God.
- Key words: “Naked” (emphasizes total loss of possessions), “labor” (the toil used to acquire wealth), “carry away in his hand” (impossible at death).
- Main debate: Does the verse teach that all work is futile, or does it clear the ground for a God-centered enjoyment of labor? The surrounding verses tilt toward the latter.
- Theological theme: The vanity of trusting in riches; the goodness of receiving life as a gift; the call to live with open hands.
- Best use: A sobering lens for sermons on greed, stewardship, or finding purpose in daily work; a discussion starter in groups wrestling with the meaning of their labor.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
WEB World English Bible 2000
As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
KJV King James Version 1769
As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
As he came forth from his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
As he came out from the belly of his mother, naked he turneth back to go as he came, and he taketh not away anything of his labour, that doth go in his hand.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go away again as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Como salió del vientre de su madre, desnudo, así se vuelve, tornando como vino; y nada tuvo de su trabajo para llevar en su mano.
Assim como ele saiu do ventre de sua mão, nu ele voltará, indo assim como veio; e nada tomará de seu trabalho, para levar em sua mão.
C’ est encore là un mal grave. Il s’ en va comme il était venu; et quel avantage lui revient-il d’ avoir travaillé pour du vent?
Wie er nackt ist von seine Mutter Leibe gekommen, so fährt er wieder hin, wie er gekommen ist, und nimmt nichts mit sich von seiner Arbeit in seiner Hand, wenn er hinfährt.
Gelijk als hij voortgekomen is uit zijner moeders buik, alzo zal hij naakt wederkeren, gaande gelijk hij gekomen was; en hij zal niet medenemen van zijn arbeid, dat hij met zijn hand zou wegdragen.
Uscito ignudo dal seno di sua madre, quel possessore se ne va com’era venuto; e di tutta la sua fatica non può prender nulla da portar seco in mano.
A tak i toć jest ciężka bieda, że jako przyszedł, tak odejdzie. Cóż tedy za pożytek, że na wiatr pracował?
И это тяжкий недуг: каким пришел он, таким и отходит. Какая же польза ему, что он трудился на ветер?
他怎樣從 母 胎 赤身而來，也必照樣 赤身 而去；他所勞碌 得來的，手中 分毫 不能 帶去。
As he came from his mother at birth, so does he go again; he gets from his work no reward which he may take away in his hand.
Verse in Context
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators across traditions agree on the central thrust: at death, we carry none of our earthly wealth with us. The words closely echo Job 1:21, a connection the Cambridge Bible for Schools calls natural to infer. Gill states plainly that when the rich man dies, he will be stripped of gold, silver, jewels, and even his clothes, as naked as he entered the world. Adam Clarke adds that if a person dies worth millions, those millions are dead to him forever, he has had no real profit from all his labors. But the verse is not an isolated cry of despair. It sits within an argument that moves from the vanity of hoarding (vv. 11-14) toward the call to enjoy life as God’s gift (vv. 18-20). Wesley notes that one cannot carry a handful into another world, and this very truth is meant to loosen the grip of greed. The consensus is not that work has no value, but that the value cannot be measured in what we hold when we leave. The writer calls this a “grievous evil” (v. 16) because people labor to pile up what they cannot keep, missing the good that God offers each day.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Skeptical / pessimistic reading: If we take nothing from our labor, then work itself may seem futile — a common reading of Ecclesiastes as a book of despair.
- Wisdom / realistic reading: The verse is not the final word; the surrounding context (vv. 18-20) calls for enjoying life as God’s gift. The verse exposes the folly of hoarding, not the worth of work.
What is clear: At physical death, no one carries their earthly possessions with them — this is universally agreed.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| The meaning of 'naked shall he go' | All traditions agree it refers to death: we leave with no material wealth. | Some stress the physical nakedness of the corpse (Gill), others the stripping away of all possessions (Wesley). The substance is the same. |
| Echo of Job 1:21 | Nearly all commentators note the parallel. | Some see direct literary borrowing (Cambridge Bible), others a common wisdom trope (Keil & Delitzsch mention Sirach 40:1 as another echo). |
| Does this verse render work meaningless? | We cannot carry earthly profit into the afterlife; no one disputes that. | A skeptical reading finds no lasting value in work. A wisdom reading holds that work is still meaningful as a gift to be enjoyed now, as vv. 18-20 show. Matthew Henry and Lange both point to the positive turn. |
| The Targum's interpretation | Gill records the Targum’s allegorical reading about original sin. | Most traditions do not allegorize here; they read the verse literally about physical death and possessions. The Targum is a minority voice. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Ecclesiastes belongs to the wisdom tradition of ancient Israel, likely compiled after the exile. The writer, called Qoheleth or “the Preacher,” examines life “under the sun”, from a human perspective that takes no account of the afterlife or divine reward. In this framework, death is the great leveler: kings and peasants alike return to the earth. The image of the mother’s womb and a return to the earth draws on the creation narrative (Genesis 3:19) and is made explicit in Job 1:21, which the Cambridge Bible says the author likely had in mind. The cross-references strengthen the point. Psalm 49:17 says, “When he dies he will carry nothing away.” Luke 12:20 records Christ’s parable of the rich fool who stored up treasures but lost his soul. 1 Timothy 6:7 echoes Ecclesiastes directly: “We brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.”
In the ancient Near East, burial practices sometimes included placing valuables with the dead, but no one genuinely believed these could travel to the next world. The verse attacks the illusion that wealth provides lasting security. Qoheleth’s argument in the surrounding verses builds a case: riches can be hoarded to one’s harm (v. 13), lost by misfortune (v. 14), or simply left behind at death. The “sore evil” in v. 16 is that people toil for the wind, an image of futility. Yet the passage does not end there. The very next verses (18-20) offer a counterpoint: the ability to eat, drink, and enjoy the fruit of one’s labor is God’s gift. So the historical context is not pure pessimism. It is a sobering realism that clears the ground for a simpler, grateful life.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Ecclesiastes 5:15. Keil & Delitzsch mention a difficulty with the word shammah in the parallel passage Job 1:21, but not for this verse. The Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes 5:15 is stable across manuscripts.
Reception History
This verse has been a touchstone in Christian teaching on the brevity of life and the danger of avarice. Early church fathers like John Chrysostom used it in sermons against hoarding wealth. In the Middle Ages, it appeared in funeral liturgies and moral treatises on the “four last things” (death, judgment, heaven, hell). The Targum, read in synagogue tradition, allegorized it to speak of original sin and the impossibility of earning merit. During the Reformation, both Catholic and Protestant commentators (such as the Geneva Bible and Matthew Henry) used the verse to reinforce that salvation cannot be purchased. In modern preaching, it is often paired with Luke 12:20 (the rich fool) and 1 Timothy 6:7 to encourage simplicity and generosity. The verse also resonates in hospice and grief ministry, where it names the universal experience of leaving everything behind.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- We bring nothing into the world. The verse mirrors Job 1:21 and Paul in 1 Timothy 6:7. Our start is empty-handed; our finish will be the same.
- We take nothing from our labor. Not the wealth we hoard, not the reputation we build, not the things we store, none of it travels with us. This is not a call to abandon work, but to loosen our grip on its rewards.
- Yet labor itself is not pointless. The context of verses 18-20 shows that God gives the ability to eat, drink, and rejoice in work. The gift is the present enjoyment, not the pile at the end.
Five-point outline
- Observation from nature. We enter the world unclothed; we leave the same way (v. 15; cf. Job 1:21).
- The fate of wealth. Riches can be lost through misfortune, hoarded to our harm, or left behind (vv. 13-14).
- The great equalizer. Death strips everyone, no social class escapes. The rich fool of Luke 12 finds no advantage.
- Why this matters. Covetousness is not just a sin; it is a trap that makes life miserable. The wealthy person whose abundance never lets him sleep (v. 12) is proof.
- The better path. Receive each day’s provision as a gift from God (vv. 18-19). Work, but do not worship the results. Enjoy the labor itself and the small pleasures along the way.
Illustration hooks
- A person who spends decades building a business, only to lose their health and family relationships. At the end, they cannot take the money or the building, but they can leave behind the memory of what they gave away.
- A parent who works overtime to provide for children, but never has time to enjoy them. When the children grow up, the parent realizes the real treasure was not the savings account but the bedtime stories they missed.
- An older adult downsizing their home and giving things away. The act is freeing: they discover that what they thought they needed was actually clutter. Letting go becomes a kind of worship.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If I can’t take money to heaven, why should I work hard at all?
- Does God care about my daily labor, the emails, the cleaning, the factory shift, or only about church activities?
- How do I find joy in work when my job feels meaningless or overwhelming?
Leading a Discussion
This verse raises a question many of us feel but rarely say aloud: if we leave the world with nothing, does our work really matter? Qoheleth is not being cynical. He is clearing away a lie, the lie that our worth comes from what we accumulate. Let the passage disturb you, but let it also open your hands to receive today as God’s gift.
Discussion questions
- Have you ever seen someone who worked hard all their life but could not enjoy the fruit of their labor? What happened?
- Read the verse aloud. What do the words “naked” and “carry away in his hand” make you feel? Why do you think the writer uses such physical language?
- The verse echoes Job 1:21. How does Job’s response, “Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away”, change or deepen the meaning of Ecclesiastes 5:15?
- Look at verses 18-20 right after this one. What does God “give” according to those verses? How does that contrast with the vanity of hoarding?
- In your own life, is there something you hold tightly that you know will not last? What would it look like to loosen your grip?
- How can you tell the difference between working for a legacy that honors God versus working for an accumulation that feeds anxiety?
- This week, what is one small way you can enjoy God’s gift in your daily work, even if your job is hard or boring?
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Job 1:21 | He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked will I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.” |
| Psalms 49:17 | for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him. |
| Luke 12:20 | “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’ |
| I Timothy 6:7 | For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out. |
Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
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What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes that whatever a person gains in this life (like wealth) becomes useless after death. He states the person will carry nothing into the eternal world. This means all his efforts bring no true lasting benefit.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The writer compares a person’s birth from the earth to Job’s sudden loss of wealth. He sees the earth as the source of life and the place where one must return empty.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes call this condition an evil sickness: a person comes into the world with nothing and leaves exactly the same way. All their labor amounts to chasing the wind, with nothing to show for it. The point is not merely emptiness but a tragic disorder in how life ends.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that even if a person keeps all his wealth and never loses anything during life, he will still leave nothing behind when he dies. He adds that whatever is buried with him cannot help his soul at all.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch note that the phrase naked shall he again depart means a person leaves this life exactly as they entered it with nothing to take away. This shows that all human effort yields no lasting possession.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange sees Ecclesiastes 5 as presenting three essential practices for genuine happiness: sincere worship, justice toward others, and grateful enjoyment of life’s gifts. He stresses that true fulfillment comes not from religious rituals or wealth, but from fearing God and consciously receiving what He provides.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that Solomon shows great riches are as vain as other desires because a person leaves nothing of his labor when he dies. He believes this teaches that having wealth does not bring true happiness.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley describes the earth as the womb and common mother of all, where everyone must go at death. Even if a person avoids losing their estate or being harmed by it, they still leave it all behind: not a single handful can be carried into the next world.