Ecclesiastes
Chapter 5
1 Be careful when you enter God’s house, and be eager to listen rather than to offer the foolish sacrifice of those who don’t realize they’re doing wrong.
2 Don’t speak without thinking, and don’t be quick to say anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so use only a few words.
3 Dreams come with lots of activity, and a fool is recognized by too many words.
4 When you make a promise to God, do not delay in fulfilling it; for God does not like fools: fulfill the promise you made.
5 It’s better not to make a promise than to make one and not keep it.
6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and don’t tell the messenger it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and ruin what you have done?
7 In having many dreams and lots of words, there are also empty things: but respect God.
8 If you see the poor being oppressed, and unfairness in law and justice in the land, don’t be surprised: because God, who is above the highest authorities, sees everything, and there are powers greater than them.
9 The good things the earth gives are for everyone; even the king depends on what the fields produce.
10 Whoever loves money will never have enough; loving wealth brings no satisfaction. This is pointless too.
11 As wealth grows, so do those who consume it. And what benefit is it to the owners except to look at it with their own eyes?
12 A working person sleeps peacefully, whether they eat a little or a lot, but a rich person’s wealth keeps them from sleeping well.
13 I have seen a terrible problem on Earth: wealth hoarded by its owner to their harm.
14 Those riches vanish by bad work: he has a son and has nothing to give him.
15 When he was born from his mother, he was naked, and he will go back the same way when he dies, taking nothing of his work with him.
16 This is also a terrible wrong: a person leaves the world just as they came into it. So what does someone gain from working for nothing?
17 Throughout his life, he eats in the dark, feeling much sadness and anger because of his illness.
18 I have seen that it is good and proper for a person to eat, drink, and enjoy the benefits of their work throughout their life under the sun, the life that God has given them, because this is their share.
19 Everyone whom God has given wealth and riches, and the ability to enjoy them, to take their share, and to find joy in their work; this is a gift from God.
20 He won’t think much about his life’s days, because God responds to him with joy in his heart.