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.
[Custodi pedem tuum ingrediens domum Dei, et appropinqua ut audias. Multo enim melior est obedientia quam stultorum victimæ, qui nesciunt quid faciunt mali.]
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.
[Ne temere quid loquaris, neque cor tuum sit velox ad proferendum sermonem coram Deo. Deus enim in cælo, et tu super terram; idcirco sint pauci sermones tui.
3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice through a multitude of words.
Multas curas sequuntur somnia, et in multis sermonibus invenietur stultitia.
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.
Si quid vovisti Deo, ne moreris reddere: displicet enim ei infidelis et stulta promissio, sed quodcumque voveris redde:
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
multoque melius est non vovere, quam post votum promissa non reddere.
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?
Ne dederis os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam, neque dicas coram angelo: Non est providentia: ne forte iratus Deus contra sermones tuos dissipet cuncta opera manuum tuarum.
7 For in the multitude of dreams are vanities; so with many words: but fear God.
Ubi multa sunt somnia, plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri; tu vero Deum time.]
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.
[Si videris calumnias egenorum, et violenta judicia, et subverti justitiam in provincia, non mireris super hoc negotio: quia excelso excelsior est alius, et super hos quoque eminentiores sunt alii;
9 Moreover the earth is every way profitable: the king [himself] is dependent upon the field.
et insuper universæ terræ rex imperat servienti.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase. This also is vanity.
Avarus non implebitur pecunia, et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis; et hoc ergo vanitas.
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?
Ubi multæ sunt opes, multi et qui comedunt eas. Et quid prodest possessori, nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis?
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.
Dulcis est somnus operanti, sive parum sive multum comedat; saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire.]
13 There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt;
[Est et alia infirmitas pessima quam vidi sub sole: divitiæ conservatæ in malum domini sui.
14 or those riches perish by some evil circumstance, and if he have begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.
Pereunt enim in afflictione pessima: generavit filium qui in summa egestate erit.
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.
Sicut egressus est nudus de utero matris suæ, sic revertetur, et nihil auferet secum de labore suo.
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?
Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas: quomodo venit, sic revertetur. Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and hath much vexation, and sickness, and irritation.
cunctis diebus vitæ suæ comedit in tenebris, et in curis multis, et in ærumna atque tristitia.]
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.
[Hoc itaque visum est mihi bonum, ut comedat quis et bibat, et fruatur lætitia ex labore suo quo laboravit ipse sub sole, numero dierum vitæ suæ quos dedit ei Deus; et hæc est pars illius.
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.
Et omni homini cui dedit Deus divitias atque substantiam, potestatemque ei tribuit ut comedat ex eis, et fruatur parte sua, et lætetur de labore suo: hoc est donum Dei.
20 For he will not much remember the days of his life, because God answereth [him] with the joy of his heart.
Non enim satis recordabitur dierum vitæ suæ, eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus.]
