Ecclesiastes 5

1 Thou that entrist in to the hous of God, kepe thi foot, and neiye thou for to here; for whi myche betere is obedience than the sacrifices of foolis, that witen not what yuel thei don.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and draw near to hear, rather than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.

2 Speke thou not ony thing folily, nether thin herte be swift to brynge forth a word bifore God; for God is in heuene, and thou art on erthe, therfor thi wordis be fewe.

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.

3 Dremes suen many bisynessis, and foli schal be foundun in many wordis.

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice through a multitude of words.

4 If thou hast avowid ony thing to God, tarie thou not to yelde; for an vnfeithful and fonned biheest displesith hym; but `yelde thou what euer thing thou hast avowid;

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

5 and it is myche betere to make not a vowe, than aftir a vowe to yelde not biheestis.

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

6 Yyue thou not thi mouth, that thou make thi fleisch to do synne; nether seie thou bifor an aungel, No puruyaunce is; lest perauenture the Lord be wrooth on thi wordis, and distruye alle the werkis of thin hondis.

Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an inadvertence. Wherefore should God be wroth at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

7 Where ben many dremes, ben ful many vanytees, and wordis with out noumbre; but drede thou God.

For in the multitude of dreams are vanities; so with many words: but fear God.

8 If thou seest false chalengis of nedi men, and violent domes, and that riytfulnesse is distried in the prouynce, wondre thou not on this doyng; for another is hiyere than an hiy man, and also othere men ben more hiye aboue these men;

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the high is watching, and there are higher than they.

9 and ferthermore the kyng of al erthe comaundith to the seruaunt.

Moreover the earth is every way profitable: the king [himself] is dependent upon the field.

10 An auerouse man schal not be fillid of monei; and he that loueth richessis schal not take fruytis of tho; and therfor this is vanyte.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.

11 Where ben many richessis, also many men ben, that eten tho; and what profitith it to the haldere, no but that he seeth richessis with hise iyen?

When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what profit is there to the owner thereof, except the beholding [of them] with his eyes?

12 Slepe is swete to hym that worchith, whether he etith litil ether myche; but the fulnesse of a ryche man suffrith not hym to slepe.

The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the rich doth not suffer him to sleep.

13 Also anothir sijknesse is ful yuel, which Y siy vndur the sunne; richessis ben kept in to the yuel of her lord.

There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;

14 For thei perischen in the worste turment; he gendride a sone, that schal be in souereyn nedynesse.

or those riches perish by some evil circumstance, and if he have begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

15 As he yede nakid out of his modris wombe, so he schal turne ayen; and he schal take awei with hym no thing of his trauel.

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.

16 Outirli it is a wretchid sijknesse; as he cam, so he schal turne ayen. What therfor profitith it to hym, that he trauelide in to the wynde?

And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came so doth he go away, and what profit hath he, in having laboured for the wind?

17 In alle the daies of his lijf he eet in derknessis, and in many bisinessis, and in nedynesse, and sorewe.

All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much vexation, and sickness, and irritation.

18 Therfor this semyde good to me, that a man ete, and drynke, and vse gladnesse of his trauel, in which he trauelide vndir the sunne, in the noumbre of daies of his lijf, which God yaf to hym; and this is his part.

Behold what I have seen good and comely: [it is] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labour wherewith [man] laboureth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for that is his portion.

19 And to ech man, to whom God yaf richessis, and catel, and yaf power to hym to ete of tho, and to vse his part, and to be glad of his trauel; this is the yifte of God.

Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and power to eat thereof, and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labour: that is a gift of God.

20 For he schal not bithenke miche on the daies of his lijf, for God ocupieth his herte with delicis.

For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth [him] with the joy of his heart.