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.
Ecclesiastes 5
5
1 You should not speak anything rashly, nor should your heart be hasty to present a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth. For this reason, let your words be few.
2 Dreams follow many worries, and in many words foolishness will be found.
3 If you have vowed anything to God, you should not delay to repay it. And whatever you have vowed, render it. But an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases him.
4 And it is much better not to make a vow, than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised.
5 You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, "There is no Providence." For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands.
6 Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities and innumerable words. Yet truly, you must fear God.
7 If you see false accusations against the indigent, and violent judgments, and subverted justice in the government, do not be surprised over this situation. For those in high places have others who are higher, and there are still others, more eminent, over these.
8 But finally, there is the King who rules over the entire earth, which is subject to him.
9 A greedy man will not be satisfied by money. And whoever loves wealth will reap no fruit from it. Therefore, this, too, is emptiness.
10 Where there are many riches, there will also be many to consume these things. And how does it benefit the one who possesses, except that he discerns the wealth with his own eyes?
11 Sleep is sweet to one who works, whether he consumes little or much. But the satiation of a wealthy man will not permit him to sleep.
12 There is even another most burdensome infirmity, which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept to the harm of the owner.
13 For they are lost in a most grievous affliction. He has produced a son, who will be in the utmost destitution.
14 Just as he went forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and he shall take nothing with him from his labors.
15 It is an utterly miserable infirmity that, in the same manner as he has arrived, so shall he return. How then does it benefit him, since he has labored for the wind?
16 All the days of his life he consumes: in darkness, and with many worries, and in distress as well as sadness.
17 And so, this has seemed good to me: that a person should eat and drink, and should enjoy the fruits of his labor, in which he has toiled under the sun, for the number of the days of his life that God has given him. For this is his portion.
18 And this is a gift from God: that every man to whom God has given wealth and resources, and to whom he has granted the ability to consume these, may enjoy his portion, and may find joy in his labors.
19 And then he will not fully remember the days of his life, because God occupies his heart with delights.
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