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.
Take heede to thy foote when thou entrest into the House of God, and be more neere to heare then to giue the sacrifice of fooles: for they knowe not that they doe euil.
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 rash with thy mouth, nor let thine heart be hastie to vtter a thing before God: for God is in the heauens, and thou art on the earth: therefore let thy wordes be fewe.
3 Multas curas sequuntur somnia, et in multis sermonibus invenietur stultitia.
For as a dreame commeth by the multitude of businesse: so the voyce of a foole is in the multitude of wordes.
4 Si quid vovisti Deo, ne moreris reddere: displicet enim ei infidelis et stulta promissio, sed quodcumque voveris redde:
When thou hast vowed a vowe to God, deferre not to pay it: for he deliteth not in fooles: pay therefore that thou hast vowed.
5 multoque melius est non vovere, quam post votum promissa non reddere.
It is better that thou shouldest not vowe, then that thou shouldest vow and not pay 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.
Suffer not thy mouth to make thy flesh to sinne: neither say before the Angel, that this is ignorance: wherefore shall God bee angry by thy voyce, and destroy the worke of thine hands?
7 Ubi multa sunt somnia, plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri; tu vero Deum time.
For in the multitude of dreames, and vanities are also many wordes: but feare thou God.
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 in a countrey thou seest the oppression of the poore, and the defrauding of iudgement and iustice, be not astonied at the matter: for hee that is higher then the highest, regardeth, and there be higher then they.
9 et insuper universæ terræ rex imperat servienti.
And the abundance of the earth is ouer all: the King also consisteth by the fielde that is tilled.
10 Avarus non implebitur pecunia, et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis; et hoc ergo vanitas.
He that loueth siluer, shall not be satisfied with siluer, and he that loueth riches, shalbe without the fruite thereof: this also is vanitie.
11 Ubi multæ sunt opes, multi et qui comedunt eas. Et quid prodest possessori, nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis?
When goods increase, they are increased that eate them: and what good commeth to the owners thereof, but the beholding thereof with their eyes?
12 Dulcis est somnus operanti, sive parum sive multum comedat; saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire.
The sleepe of him that traueileth, is sweete, whether he eate litle or much: but the sacietie of the riche will not suffer him to sleepe.
13 Est et alia infirmitas pessima quam vidi sub sole: divitiæ conservatæ in malum domini sui.
There is an euill sickenes that I haue seene vnder the sunne: to wit, riches reserued to the owners thereof for their euill.
14 Pereunt enim in afflictione pessima: generavit filium qui in summa egestate erit.
And these riches perish by euill trauel, and he begetteth a sonne, and in his hand is nothing.
15 Sicut egressus est nudus de utero matris suæ, sic revertetur, et nihil auferet secum de labore suo.
As hee came foorth of his mothers belly, he shall returne naked to goe as he came, and shall beare away nothing of his labour, which hee hath caused to passe by his hand.
16 Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas: quomodo venit, sic revertetur. Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum?
And this also is an euill sickenes that in all pointes as he came, so shall he goe, and what profit hath he that he hath traueiled for the winde?
17 cunctis diebus vitæ suæ comedit in tenebris, et in curis multis, et in ærumna atque tristitia.
Also all his dayes hee eateth in darkenes with much griefe, and in his sorowe and anger.
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.
Beholde then, what I haue seene good, that it is comely to eate, and to drinke, and to take pleasure in all his labour, wherein he traueileth vnder the sunne, the whole nomber of the dayes of his life, which God giueth him: for this is his portion.
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.
Also to euery man to whom God hath giuen riches and treasures, and giueth him power to eate thereof, and to take his part, and to enioy his labour: this is the gift of God.
20 Non enim satis recordabitur dierum vitæ suæ, eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus.
Surely hee will not much remember the dayes of his life, because God answereth to the ioy of his heart.
