Ecclesiastes 5
1 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Thou that entrist in to the hous of God, kepe thi foot, and neiye thou for to here; for whi myche betere is obedience than the sacrifices of foolis, that witen not what yuel thei don.
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter [any] thing before God: for God [is] in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
Speke thou not ony thing folily, nether thin herte be swift to brynge forth a word bifore God; for God is in heuene, and thou art on erthe, therfor thi wordis be fewe.
3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice [is known] by multitude of words.
Dremes suen many bisynessis, and foli schal be foundun in many wordis.
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 avowid ony thing to God, tarie thou not to yelde; for an vnfeithful and fonned biheest displesith hym; but `yelde thou what euer thing thou hast avowid;
5 Better [is it] that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
and it is myche betere to make not a vowe, than aftir a vowe to yelde not biheestis.
6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it [was] an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?
Yyue thou not thi mouth, that thou make thi fleisch to do synne; nether seie thou bifor an aungel, No puruyaunce is; lest perauenture the Lord be wrooth on thi wordis, and distruye alle the werkis of thin hondis.
7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words [there are] also [divers] vanities: but fear thou God.
Where ben many dremes, ben ful many vanytees, and wordis with out noumbre; but drede thou 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 [he that is] higher than the highest regardeth; and [there be] higher than they.
If thou seest false chalengis of nedi men, and violent domes, and that riytfulnesse is distried in the prouynce, wondre thou not on this doyng; for another is hiyere than an hiy man, and also othere men ben more hiye aboue these men;
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king [himself] is served by the field.
and ferthermore the kyng of al erthe comaundith to the seruaunt.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.
An auerouse man schal not be fillid of monei; and he that loueth richessis schal not take fruytis of tho; and therfor this is vanyte.
11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good [is there] to the owners thereof, saving the beholding [of them] with their eyes?
Where ben many richessis, also many men ben, that eten tho; and what profitith it to the haldere, no but that he seeth richessis with hise iyen?
12 The sleep of a labouring man [is] sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
Slepe is swete to hym that worchith, whether he etith litil ether myche; but the fulnesse of a ryche man suffrith not hym to slepe.
13 There is a sore evil [which] I have seen under the sun, [namely], riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
Also anothir sijknesse is ful yuel, which Y siy vndur the sunne; richessis ben kept in to the yuel of her lord.
14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and [there is] nothing in his hand.
For thei perischen in the worste turment; he gendride a sone, that schal be in souereyn nedynesse.
15 As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
As he yede nakid out of his modris wombe, so he schal turne ayen; and he schal take awei with hym no thing of his trauel.
16 And this also [is] a sore evil, [that] in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?
Outirli it is a wretchid sijknesse; as he cam, so he schal turne ayen. What therfor profitith it to hym, that he trauelide in to the wynde?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and [he hath] much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.
In alle the daies of his lijf he eet in derknessis, and in many bisinessis, and in nedynesse, and sorewe.
18 Behold [that] which I have seen: [it is] good and comely [for one] to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it [is] his portion.
Therfor this semyde good to me, that a man ete, and drynke, and vse gladnesse of his trauel, in which he trauelide vndir the sunne, in the noumbre of daies of his lijf, which God yaf to hym; and this is his part.
19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this [is] the gift of God.
And to ech man, to whom God yaf richessis, and catel, and yaf power to hym to ete of tho, and to vse his part, and to be glad of his trauel; this is the yifte of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth [him] in the joy of his heart.
For he schal not bithenke miche on the daies of his lijf, for God ocupieth his herte with delicis.
