Ecclesiastes 5
5
Revere God
1#Ex 3:5; Pr 15:8Guard your steps when you enter the house of God, and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.#4:17 in the Heb. text.
2#Pr 10:19; Mt 6:7 Do not be quick to speak with your mouth,
nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word
before God.
For God is in heaven,
and you are on the earth;
therefore may your words be few.
3#Pr 10:19; 15:2 For a dream comes when there is a great burden,
and a foolish voice when there are many words.
4#Nu 30:2; Ps 66:13–14When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it because He has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you have vowed. 5#Pr 20:25; Ac 5:4Better it is that you do not make a vow than you make a vow and not fulfill it. 6#1Co 11:10Do not let your mouth cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was an error. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? 7#Ecc 12:13; 7:18For when there is an abundance of dreams and futilities, then words increase too. Therefore it is God you should fear.
The Vanity of Loving Money
8#Ps 12:5; Ecc 4:1; Ps 82:1If you see in a district the oppression of the poor and the violent perversion of justice and righteousness, do not be astounded at the matter; for the high official is watched over by an even higher official, and there are even higher officials over them. 9But this is an advantage to the land in every way, like a king committed to a cultivated field.
10#Ecc 4:8; 2:11 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money;
nor he who loves abundance with increase.
This also is vanity.
11When there is an increase of good things,
then there is an increase of those who devour them.
And what profit have the owners
except to see them with their eyes?
12#Pr 3:24 Sweet is the sleep of a laboring man,
whether he eats a little or much;
but the abundance of the rich
will not let him sleep.
13#Ecc 6:1–2There is a grave misery that I have seen under the sun:
when riches were kept by an owner to his hurt,
14and those riches were lost in a misfortunate business deal;
and although he has a son,
there is nothing at all to put in his hand.
15#Job 1:21; Ps 49:17 As he came from his mother’s womb,
naked shall he return, to go as he came;
he shall take nothing from his labor
which he may carry away in his hands.
16#Pr 11:29; Ecc 1:3This also is a grievous evil:
Just as he came,
so shall he go.
And what profit is there to him who toils for the wind?
17#Ps 127:2 Moreover, in all his days he eats in darkness,
while he is greatly irritated in sickness and anger.
18#Ecc 2:10; 2:24This is what I have seen to be good: It is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life, which God has given to him; for this is his reward. 19#Ecc 6:2; 3:13And also everyone to whom God has given wealth and possessions, and given him power to enjoy them, and to receive his reward and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. 20For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.
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Military Bible Association
Ecclesiastes 5
5
Don't Make Rash Promises
1Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices as foolish people do, people who don't know right from wrong. 2Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to. 3The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish. 4#Ps 66.13–14So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do. 5Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it. 6Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for? 7No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.
Life is Useless
8Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by the one over him, and both are protected by still higher officials.
9Even a king depends on the harvest.#5.9 Verse 9 in Hebrew is unclear.
10If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. 11The richer you are, the more mouths you must feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. 12Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.
13Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,#5.13 for… it; or to their own hurt. 14and then lose it all in some unlucky deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children. 15#Job 1.21; Ps 49.17; 1 Tim 6.7We leave this world just as we entered it — with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us. 16It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labour, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get? 17We have to live our lives in darkness and grief,#5.17 Some ancient translations in darkness and grief; Hebrew eating in darkness. worried, angry, and sick.
18This is what I have found out: the best thing anyone can do is to eat and drink and enjoy what he has worked for during the short life that God has given him; this is man's fate. 19If God gives a man wealth and property and lets him enjoy them, he should be grateful and enjoy what he has worked for. It is a gift from God. 20Since God has allowed him to be happy, he will not worry too much about how short life is.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.