Ecclesiastes 5
1 [Custodi pedem tuum ingrediens domum Dei, et appropinqua ut audias. Multo enim melior est obedientia quam stultorum victimæ, qui nesciunt quid faciunt mali.]
Put your feet down with care when you go to the house of God, for it is better to give ear than to make the burned offerings of the foolish, whose knowledge is only of doing evil.
2 [Ne temere quid loquaris, neque cor tuum sit velox ad proferendum sermonem coram Deo. Deus enim in cælo, et tu super terram; idcirco sint pauci sermones tui.
Be not unwise with your mouth, and let not your heart be quick to say anything before God, because God is in heaven and you are on the earth — so let not the number of your words be great.
3 Multas curas sequuntur somnia, et in multis sermonibus invenietur stultitia.
As a dream comes from much business, so the voice of a foolish man comes with words in great number.
4 Si quid vovisti Deo, ne moreris reddere: displicet enim ei infidelis et stulta promissio, sed quodcumque voveris redde:
When you take an oath before God, put it quickly into effect, because he has no pleasure in the foolish; keep the oath you have taken.
5 multoque melius est non vovere, quam post votum promissa non reddere.
It is better not to take an oath than to take an oath and not keep it.
6 Ne dederis os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam, neque dicas coram angelo: Non est providentia: ne forte iratus Deus contra sermones tuos dissipet cuncta opera manuum tuarum.
Let not your mouth make your flesh do evil. And say not before the angel, It was an error. So that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands.
7 Ubi multa sunt somnia, plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri; tu vero Deum time.]
Because much talk comes from dreams and things of no purpose. But let the fear of God be in you.
8 [Si videris calumnias egenorum, et violenta judicia, et subverti justitiam in provincia, non mireris super hoc negotio: quia excelso excelsior est alius, et super hos quoque eminentiores sunt alii;
If you see the poor under a cruel yoke, and law and right being violently overturned in a country, be not surprised, because one authority is keeping watch on another and there are higher than they.
9 et insuper universæ terræ rex imperat servienti.
It is good generally for a country where the land is worked to have a king.
10 Avarus non implebitur pecunia, et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis; et hoc ergo vanitas.
He who has a love for silver never has enough silver, or he who has love for wealth, enough profit. This again is to no purpose.
11 Ubi multæ sunt opes, multi et qui comedunt eas. Et quid prodest possessori, nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis?
When goods are increased, the number of those who take of them is increased; and what profit has the owner but to see them?
12 Dulcis est somnus operanti, sive parum sive multum comedat; saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire.]
The sleep of a working man is sweet, if he has little food or much; but to him who is full, sleep will not come.
13 [Est et alia infirmitas pessima quam vidi sub sole: divitiæ conservatæ in malum domini sui.
There is a great evil which I have seen under the sun — wealth kept by the owner to be his downfall.
14 Pereunt enim in afflictione pessima: generavit filium qui in summa egestate erit.
And I saw the destruction of his wealth by an evil chance; and when he became the father of a son he had nothing in his hand.
15 Sicut egressus est nudus de utero matris suæ, sic revertetur, et nihil auferet secum de labore suo.
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.
16 Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas: quomodo venit, sic revertetur. Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum?
And this again is a great evil, that in all points as he came so will he go; and what profit has he in working for the wind?
17 cunctis diebus vitæ suæ comedit in tenebris, et in curis multis, et in ærumna atque tristitia.]
All his days are in the dark, and he has much sorrow, pain, disease, and trouble.
18 [Hoc itaque visum est mihi bonum, ut comedat quis et bibat, et fruatur lætitia ex labore suo quo laboravit ipse sub sole, numero dierum vitæ suæ quos dedit ei Deus; et hæc est pars illius.
This is what I have seen: it is good and fair for a man to take meat and drink and to have joy in all his work under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; that is his reward.
19 Et omni homini cui dedit Deus divitias atque substantiam, potestatemque ei tribuit ut comedat ex eis, et fruatur parte sua, et lætetur de labore suo: hoc est donum Dei.
Every man to whom God has given money and wealth and the power to have pleasure in it and to do his part and have joy in his work: this is given by God.
20 Non enim satis recordabitur dierum vitæ suæ, eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus.]
He will not give much thought to the days of his life; because God lets him be taken up with the joy of his heart.
