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.
Keep thy feet when thou goest unto a house of God, and draw near to hear rather than to give of fools the sacrifice, for they do not know they do evil.
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.
Cause not thy mouth to hasten, and let not thy heart hasten to bring out a word before God, for God is in the heavens, and thou on the earth, therefore let thy words be few.
3 For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; and a fool's voice is with a multitude of words.
For the dream hath come by abundance of business, and the voice of a fool by abundance of words.
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 thou vowest a vow to God, delay not to complete it, for there is no pleasure in fools; that which thou vowest — complete.
5 [It is] better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.
Better that thou do not vow, than that thou dost vow and dost not complete.
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.
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger, that 'it [is] an error,' why is God wroth because of thy voice, and hath destroyed the work of thy hands?
7 For [there is evil] in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: but fear you God.
For, in the abundance of dreams both vanities and words abound; but fear thou God.
8 If you should see the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of judgment 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.
If oppression of the poor, and violent taking away of judgment and righteousness thou seest in a province, do not marvel at the matter, for a higher than the high is observing, and high ones [are] over them.
9 Also the abundance of the earth is for every one: the king [is dependent on] the tilled field.
And the abundance of a land is for all. A king for a field is served.
10 He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver: and who has loved gain, in the abundance thereof? this is also vanity.
Whoso is loving silver is not satisfied [with] silver, nor he who is in love with stores [with] increase. Even this [is] vanity.
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?
In the multiplying of good have its consumers been multiplied, and what benefit [is] to its possessor except the sight of 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.
Sweet [is] the sleep of the labourer whether he eat little or much; and the sufficiency of the wealthy is not suffering him to sleep.
13 There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, [namely], wealth kept for its owner to his hurt.
There is a painful evil I have seen under the sun: wealth kept for its possessor, for his evil.
14 And that wealth shall perish in an evil trouble: and [the man] begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand.
And that wealth hath been lost in an evil business, and he hath begotten a son and there is nothing in his hand!
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 labor, that it should go [with him] in his hand.
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.
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 labors?
And this also [is] a painful evil, just as he came, so he goeth, and what advantage [is] to him who laboureth for wind?
17 Yes, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, and much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath.
Also all his days in darkness he consumeth, and sadness, and wrath, and sickness abound.
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 labor in which he may labor under the sun, [all] the number of the days of his life which God has given to him: for it is his portion.
Lo, that which I have seen: [It is] good, because beautiful, to eat, and to drink, and to see good in all one's labour that he laboureth at under the sun, the number of the days of his life that God hath given to him, for it [is] his portion.
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 labor; this is the gift of God.
Every man also to whom God hath given wealth and riches, and hath given him power to eat of it, and to accept his portion, and to rejoice in his labour, this is a gift of 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 doth not much remember the days of his life, for God is answering through the joy of his heart.
