[[Ecclesiastes 4|<< Ecclesiastes 4]] | [[Ecclesiastes|Ecclesiastes]] | [[Ecclesiastes 6|Ecclesiastes 6 >>]] ### 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. ^1 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. ^2 3 For a dream comes through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice _is_ _known_ by multitude of words. ^3 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. ^4 5 Better _is_ _it_ that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. ^5 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? ^6 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words _there_ _are_ also _divers_ vanities: but fear thou God. ^7 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 regards; and _there_ _be_ higher than they. ^8 9 ¶ Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king _himself_ is served by the field. ^9 10 He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loves abundance with increase: this _is_ also vanity. ^10 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? ^11 12 The sleep of a laboring man _is_ sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. ^12 13 There is a sore evil _which_ I have seen under the sun, _namely_, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. ^13 14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begets a son, and _there_ _is_ nothing in his hand. ^14 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 labor, which he may carry away in his hand. ^15 16 And this also _is_ a sore evil, _that_ in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit has he that has labored for the wind? ^16 17 All his days also he eats in darkness, and _he_ _hath_ much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. ^17 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 labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for it _is_ his portion. ^18 19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this _is_ the gift of God. ^19 20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answers _him_ in the joy of his heart. ^20