Ecclesiastes 5
1Be not hasty with thy mouth, 1 And let not thy heart be swift 1 To utter anything before God; 1 For God is in heaven above, and thou upon earth: 1 Therefore let thy words be few. 1
2For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; 1 And a fool’s voice is with a multitude of words. 1
3Whenever thou shalt vow a vow to God, 1 Defer not to pay it; 1 For he has no pleasure in fools: 1 Pay thou therefore whatsoever thou shalt have vowed. 1
4It is better that thou shouldest not vow, 1 Than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 1
5Suffer not thy mouth to lead thy flesh to sin; 1 And say not in the presence of God, It was an error: 1 Lest God be angry at thy voice, 1 And destroy the works of thy hands. 1
6For there is evil in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words: 1 But fear thou God. 1
7If thou shouldest see the oppression of the poor, and the wresting of judgment and of justice in the land, 1 Wonder not at the matter: 1 For there is a high one to watch over him that is high, 1 And high ones over them. 1
8Also the abundance of the earth is for everyone: 1 The king is dependent on the tilled field. 1
9He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver: 1 And who has loved gain, in the abundance thereof? 1 This is also vanity. 1
10In the multitude of good they are increased that eat it: 1 And what virtue has the owner, 1 But the right of beholding it with his eyes? 1
11The sleep of a servant is sweet, 1 Whether he eat little or much: 1 But to one who is satiated with wealth, 1 There is none that suffers him to sleep. 1
12There is an infirmity which I have seen under the sun, 1 Namely, wealth kept for its owner to his hurt. 1
13And that wealth shall perish in an evil trouble: 1 And the man begets a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 1
14As he came forth naked from his mother’s womb, 1 He shall return back as he came, 1 And he shall receive nothing for his labor, 1 That it should go with him in his hand. 1
15And this is also an evil infirmity: 1 For as he came, so also shall he return: 1 And what is his gain, for which he vainly labors? 1
16Yea, all his days are in darkness, and in mourning, 1 And much sorrow, and infirmity, and wrath. 1
17Behold, I have seen good, that it is a fine thing for a man 1 To eat and to drink, 1 And to see good 1 In all his labor in 1 Which he may labor under the sun, 1 All the number of the days of his life 1 Which God has given to him: 1 For it is his portion. 1
18Yea, and as for every man to whom God has given 1 Wealth and possessions, and has given him 1 Power to eat thereof, and to receive his portion, 1 And to rejoice in his labor; 1 This is the gift of God. 1
19For he shall not much remember the days of his life; 1 For God troubles him in the mirth of his heart.