Ecclesiastes 5

^aKeep thy foot when thou goest to ^aathe house of God, and be more ready to hear, ^bthan to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. ^2cBe not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be ^dfew.³For a dream cometh through the multitude of ^ebusiness; and a fool’s voice is known ^fby multitude of words. ^4gWhen thou vowest a vow unto God, ^hdefer not to pay it; for he hath no ⁱpleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. ⁵Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. ^6jSuffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before ^kthe angel, that it was ^lan error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? ⁷For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but ^mfear thou God.

⁸ⁿIf thou seest ^othe oppression of the poor, and ^oviolent perverting of judgment and justice in a ^pprovince, marvel not at the matter: for ^qhe that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

⁹Moreover ^rthe profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. ¹⁰He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth ^sabundance with increase: this is also vanity. ¹¹When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what ^tgood is there to ^uthe owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? ¹²The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

^13xThere is ^ya sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for ^uthe owners thereof to their hurt. ¹⁴But those riches perish by evil ^ztravail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. ^15aAs he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶And this also is ^ya sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and ^bwhat profit hath he that hath ^claboured for the wind? ¹⁷All his days also ^dhe eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

¹⁸Behold that which I have seen: ^eit is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to ^fenjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for ^git is his portion. ¹⁹Every man also ^hto whom God hath given riches and ⁱwealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; ^kthis is the gift of God. ²⁰For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

VI.