Ecclesiastes 5
5
Be Careful About Making Promises
1Be careful when you go to worship at the Temple. It is better to listen than to offer foolish sacrifices. People who do this don’t even know they are doing wrong.
2Think before you speak.
Be careful about what you promise to God.
God is in heaven,
and you are on the earth.
So say only a few words to God.
3The saying is true: Bad dreams come from too much worrying.
So too many words come from foolish people.
4If you make a promise to God, don’t be slow to keep it. God is not happy with foolish people. Give God what you promised. 5It is better not to promise anything than to promise something and not do it. 6So don’t let your words cause you to sin. Also, don’t say to the priest at the Temple, “I didn’t mean what I promised!” If you do, God will become angry with your words. He will destroy everything you have worked for. 7Many empty promises are like many foolish dreams. They mean nothing. You should honor God.
Officers Cheat Each Other
8In some countries you will see poor people treated badly. They are not treated fairly or given their rights. Don’t be surprised! One officer is cheated by a higher officer. They in turn are cheated by even higher officers. 9The wealth of the country is divided up among them all. Even the king makes sure he gets his share of the profits.
Wealth Cannot Buy Happiness
10The person who loves money
will never have all the money he wants.
The person who loves wealth
will not be satisfied when he gets it.
This is also useless.
11The more wealth a person has,
the more friends he has to help him spend it.
So what does he really gain?
He gains nothing except to look at his riches.
12A man who works hard sleeps in peace.
It is not important if he has little or much to eat.
But a rich person worries about his wealth.
He cannot sleep.
13I have seen something unfair here on earth:
A person suffers harm from saving up his money.
14Then he loses it all in a bad deal.
So he has nothing
to give to his son.
15A person comes into this world with nothing.
And when he dies, he leaves with nothing.
In spite of all his hard work,
he leaves exactly as he came.
16This, too, is unfair:
He leaves exactly as he came.
So what does he gain from chasing the wind?
17All he gets are days filled with sadness and sorrow.
He ends up sick, defeated and angry.
Enjoy Your Life’s Work
18I have seen what is best for a person to do here on earth. He should eat and drink and enjoy his work. This is because the life God has given him on earth is short. 19God gives some people the ability to enjoy the wealth and property he gives them. He also gives them the ability to accept their state in life and enjoy their work. 20Such people do not worry much about how short life is. This is because God keeps them busy with the things they love to do.
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Ecclesiastes 5
5
1Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil. 2Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few. 3For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words. 4When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. 5It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. 6Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? 7For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words; but you must fear God.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them. 9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.
10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.
13There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. 14Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand. 15As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. 16This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labours for the wind? 17All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.
18Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labour, in which he labours under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. 19Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour—this is the gift of God. 20For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life, because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.
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