Ecclesiastes 5

1 Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and draw nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims of fools, who know not what evil they do.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

2 Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

3 Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly.

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice [is known] by a multitude of words.

4 If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.

When thou vowest a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for [he hath] no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

5 And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised.

Better [is it] that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay.

6 Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

7 Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God.

For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.

8 If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perversion of judgment and justice in a province, wonder not at the matter: for [he that is] higher than the highest regardeth; and [there are] higher than they.

9 Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him.

Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.

10 A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

11 Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good [is there] to the owners of them, saving the beholding [of them] with their eyes?

12 Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

The sleep of a laboring man [is] sweet, whether he eateth little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

13 There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.

There is a grievous evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners of them to their hurt.

14 For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.

But those riches perish by evil labor: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand.

15 As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.

As he came into the world, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

16 A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?

And this also [is] a grievous evil, [that] in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind?

17 All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.

All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

18 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.

Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.

19 And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this [is] the gift of God.

20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,

For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.