Ecclesiastes 5
1 Keep your foot, whenever you go to the house of God; and [when you are] near to hear, let your sacrifice [be] better than the gift of fools: for they know not that they are doing evil.
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not understand that they are doing what is wrong.
2 Be not hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart be swift to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven above, and you upon earth: therefore let your words be few.
Do not be too quick to speak with your mouth, and do not let your heart be too quick to bring any matter up before God. God is in heaven, but you are on earth, so let your words be few.
3 For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; and a fool's voice is with a multitude of words.
If you have too many things to do and worry about, you will probably have bad dreams. The more words you speak, the more foolish things you will probably say.
4 Whenever you shall vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for [he has] no pleasure in fools: pay you therefore whatever you shall have vowed.
When you make a vow to God, do not delay to do it, for God has no pleasure in fools. Do what you vow you will do.
5 [It is] better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
It is better not to make a vow than to make one that you do not carry out.
6 Suffer not your mouth to lead your flesh to sin; and say not in the presence of God, It was an error: lest God be angry at your voice, and destroy the works of your hands.
Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin. Do not say to the priest's messenger, “That vow was a mistake.” Why make God angry by vowing falsely, provoking God to destroy the work of your hands?
7 For [there is evil] in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear you God.
For in many dreams, as in many words, there is meaningless vapor. So fear God.
8 If you should see the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of judgement and of justice in the land, wonder not at the matter: for [there is] a high one to watch over him that is high, and high ones over them.
When you see the poor being oppressed and robbed of just and right treatment in your province, do not be astonished as if no one knows, because there are people in power who watch those under them, and there are even higher ones over them.
9 Also the abundance of the earth is for every one: the king [is dependent on] the tilled field.
In addition, the produce of the land is for everyone, and the king himself takes produce from the fields.
10 He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver: and who has loved gain, in the abundance thereof? this is also vanity.
Anyone who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and anyone who loves wealth always wants more. This, too, is vapor.
11 In the multitude of good they are increased that eat it: and what virtue has the owner, but the right of beholding [it] with his eyes?
As prosperity increases, so also do the people who consume it. What advantage in wealth is there to the owner except to watch it with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a servant is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but to one who is satiated with wealth, there is none that suffers him to sleep.
The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or a lot, but the wealth of a rich person does not allow him to sleep well.
13 There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, [namely], wealth kept for its owner to his hurt.
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun: riches hoarded by the owner, resulting in his own misery.
14 And that wealth shall perish in an evil trouble: and [the man] begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
When the rich man loses his wealth through bad luck, his own son, one whom he has fathered, is left with nothing in his hands.
15 As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, he shall return back as he came, and he shall receive nothing for his labour, that it should go [with him] in his hand.
As a man comes from his mother's womb, so also he will leave naked. He can take none of the fruits of his labor in his hand.
16 And this is also an evil infirmity: for as he came, so also shall he return: and what is his gain, for which he vainly labours?
Another evil is that as a person comes, so he goes away. So what profit is there for him who works for the wind?
17 Yes, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, and much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath.
During his days he eats with darkness and is greatly distressed with sickness and anger.
18 Behold, I have seen good, that it is a fine thing [for a man] to eat and to drink, and to see good in all his labour in which he may labour under the sun, [all] the number of the days of his life which God has given to him: for it is his portion.
Look, what I have seen to be good and suitable is to eat and drink and to enjoy the gain from all our work, as we labor under the sun during the days of this life that God has given us. For this is man's assignment.
19 Yes, and [as for] every man to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to receive his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
Anyone to whom God has given riches and wealth and the ability to receive his share and rejoice in his work—this is a gift from God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; for God troubles him in the mirth of his heart.
For he does not call to mind very often the days of his life, because God makes him keep busy with the things that he enjoys doing.
