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
1Do not be quick with your mouth nor hasty in your heart to utter a word in God’s presence. For God is in heaven, and you are on the earth— therefore, let your words be few.
2As a dream comes with excessive burdens so a fool’s voice with too many words.
3When you swear a vow to God, don’t delay in fulfilling it. For He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow!
4It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay.
5Don’t let your mouth lead your flesh to sin, and don’t say before the messenger, “It was a mistake!” Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
6Many dreams and many words are meaningless. Therefore, fear God!
Bureaucratic Oppression
7If you see the oppression of the poor or perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the matter. For one authority watches over another authority, and higher ones are over them.
8Though the profit of the land is taken by all, a king is served by the fields.
Futility of Wealth
9A lover of money never has enough money, and a lover of wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is futile.
10When goods increase, so do those who consume them. So what advantage are they to the owner except he sees it with his eyes?
11The sleep of the laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much— but the excess of the rich permits him no sleep.
12There is a grievous wrong that I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded by its owner to his own hurt,
13or wealth lost in a bad investment, and when he fathers a son, there is nothing in his hand.
14As he came from his mother’s womb, naked he will return as he came. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.
15This too is a grievous wrong. Just as he came, so will he go, so what does he gain, from his toiling for the wind?
16So, all his days he eats in darkness, and he has much grief, sickness, and humiliation.
17Behold, this is what I myself have seen. It is beneficial and good for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy all of his toil that he labors under the sun during the few days of his life that God has given him—for this is his reward.
18Additionally, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, and empowers him to eat from it, to receive his share, and to rejoice in his labor—this is a gift of God.
19For he will not often consider the days of his life, since God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
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