Ecclesiastes 5

1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and draw near to hear, rather than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.

Keep thy foot, when thou goest into the house of God, and draw nigh to hear. For much better is obedience, than the victims of fools, who know not what evil they do.

2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in the heavens, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.

Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice through a multitude of words.

Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly.

4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.

5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised.

6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an inadvertence. Wherefore should God be wroth at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?

Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.

7 For in the multitude of dreams are vanities; so with many words: but fear God.

Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God.

8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter; for a higher than the high is watching, and there are higher than they.

If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:

9 Moreover the earth is every way profitable: the king [himself] is dependent upon the field.

Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him.

10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.

A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what profit is there to the owner thereof, except the beholding [of them] with his eyes?

Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?

12 The sleep of the labourer is sweet, whether he have eaten little or much; but the fulness of the rich doth not suffer him to sleep.

Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;

There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.

14 or those riches perish by some evil circumstance, and if he have begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.

For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.

15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go away again as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.

16 And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came so doth he go away, and what profit hath he, in having laboured for the wind?

A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?

17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much vexation, and sickness, and irritation.

All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.

18 Behold what I have seen good and comely: [it is] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labour wherewith [man] laboureth under the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for that is his portion.

This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.

19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and power to eat thereof, and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labour: that is a gift of God.

And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.

20 For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth [him] with the joy of his heart.

For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,