Ecclesiastes
Chapter Five
1 Keep thy foot when thou
goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the
sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.
2 Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything
before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words
be few.
3 For a dream cometh with a multitude of business, and a fool's voice with a
multitude of words.
4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure
in fools: pay that which thou vowest.
5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and
not pay.
6 Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the
angel, that is was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and
destroy the work of thy hands?
7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words: but
fear thou God.
8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice
and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher than
the high regardeth; and there are higher than they.
9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by
the field.
10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth
abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage
is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes?
12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but
the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches
kept by the owner thereof to his hurt:
14 and those riches perish by evil adventure; and if he hath begotten a son,
there is nothing in his hand.
15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came,
and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
16 And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall
he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?
17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness
and wrath.
18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to
eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under
the sun, all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his
portion.
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 labor-this
is the gift of God.
20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth
him in the joy of his heart.
Go to Chapter Six
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