Ecclesiastes 5

1 When you enter God’s temple, you should be sure to listen carefully. Doing that is better than offering sacrifices to God [and then not obeying him], which is foolish.

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not understand that they are doing what is wrong.

2 Think carefully before you speak [MTY] or before you promise God that you will do something [IDM]. [Do not forget that] God is in heaven [and he is all-powerful] and you are here on the earth, so think carefully before you [make any promises to God].

Do not be too quick to speak with your mouth, and do not let your heart be too quick to bring any matter up before God. God is in heaven, but you are on earth, so let your words be few.

3 If you are continually thinking [and worrying] about things, you will have bad dreams about them and not rest [well]. And the more you talk, the more likely it will be that you will say things that are foolish.

If you have too many things to do and worry about, you will probably have bad dreams. The more words you speak, the more foolish things you will probably say.

4 When you solemnly promise God that you will do something, do not be foolish by delaying in doing it, because God is not pleased with foolish people. Do [all] the things that you promise God that you will do.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to do it, for God has no pleasure in fools. Do what you vow you will do.

5 It is better to not promise [anything] than to promise to do something, and [then] not doing it.

It is better not to make a vow than to make one that you do not carry out.

6 Do not sin by promising to do something and then not doing it. And [when you promise God to do something and do not do it], do not say to God’s priest that it was a mistake for you to promise to do that. If you do that, God will certainly [RHQ] become very angry with you, and he will take from you everything that you [SYN] have worked to acquire.

Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin. Do not say to the priest's messenger, “That vow was a mistake.” Why make God angry by vowing falsely, provoking God to destroy the work of your hands?

7 Promising to do something and not doing it is like [SIM] a dream that has no value; instead, revere God [by doing what you promised him that you would do].

For in many dreams, as in many words, there is meaningless vapor. So fear God.

8 Do not be surprised if you see poor [people] being (oppressed/treated cruelly) [by powerful/influential people], or if you see judges making unjust decisions throughout the land. [That happens] because the people who do that are supervised [and cheated by] more important officials [DOU],

When you see the poor being oppressed and robbed of just and right treatment in your province, do not be astonished as if no one knows, because there are people in power who watch those under them, and there are even higher ones over them.

9 and even the king forces the people to give him some of the crops that they harvest.

In addition, the produce of the land is for everyone, and the king himself takes produce from the fields.

10 Everyone who tries to [get as much] money as they can will never think that they have enough. They will never be satisfied with the money that they have. That also is senseless.

Anyone who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, and anyone who loves wealth always wants more. This, too, is vapor.

11 The more money that we have, the more people want us to spend our money to buy things for them. So people who have a lot of money do not [RHQ] benefit from it; they see [MTY] it when they get it, but it soon (disappears/is completely spent).

As prosperity increases, so also do the people who consume it. What advantage in wealth is there to the owner except to watch it with his eyes?

12 Those who work hard sleep peacefully [at night], even if they do not have much food to eat. But rich [people] do not sleep well, because [they worry] about their money.

The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or a lot, but the wealth of a rich person does not allow him to sleep well.

13 I have seen [another] terrible thing that happens here on the earth [MTY]: People save [up all] their money and become rich, [but] they are not helped by saving a lot of money,

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun: riches hoarded by the owner, resulting in his own misery.

14 [because] something happens that causes their money to be gone, and when they die, there is no money for their children to get/inherit.

When the rich man loses his wealth through bad luck, his own son, one whom he has fathered, is left with nothing in his hands.

15 When we are born, we do not bring anything with us, and when we die, we take nothing with us from all that we have earned by our working hard.

As a man comes from his mother's womb, so also he will leave naked. He can take none of the fruits of his labor in his hand.

16 That also seems senseless. People bring nothing [into the world when they are born], and they leave [this world] taking nothing with them. They have worked hard, but they receive no lasting benefit [MET].

Another evil is that as a person comes, so he goes away. So what profit is there for him who works for the wind?

17 [Furthermore, rich people] are always miserable [MET] and sad, and depressed/discouraged and often sick and (resentful/thinking that what has happened to them is unfair).

During his days he eats with darkness and is greatly distressed with sickness and anger.

18 So, the best thing for people to do here on the earth during the few years that God allows them to be alive is to eat and drink and to enjoy their work, because those are the things that God has given to them.

Look, what I have seen to be good and suitable is to eat and drink and to enjoy the gain from all our work, as we labor under the sun during the days of this life that God has given us. For this is man's assignment.

19 If people are rich and have a lot of possessions, and are able to (enjoy/be happy with) the things that they have and to enjoy their work, those things are [also] gifts from God.

Anyone to whom God has given riches and wealth and the ability to receive his share and rejoice in his work—this is a gift from God.

20 Those people do not worry much about [everything that has happened] during the time that they have been alive, because God enables them to be happy doing everything that they do.

For he does not call to mind very often the days of his life, because God makes him keep busy with the things that he enjoys doing.