Ecclesiastes 5:1-12
New International Reader's Version
Keep Your Promise to God
5 Be careful what you say when you go to God’s house. Go there to listen. Don’t be like foolish people when you offer your sacrifice. They do what is wrong and don’t even know it.
2 Don’t be too quick to speak.
Don’t be in a hurry to say anything to God.
God is in heaven. You are on earth.
So use only a few words when you speak.
3 Many worries result in dreams.
Many words result in foolish talk.
4 When you make a promise to God, don’t wait too long to carry it out. He isn’t pleased with foolish people. So do what you have promised. 5 It is not good to make a promise and not keep it. It is better to make no promise at all. 6 Don’t let your mouth cause you to sin. Don’t say to the temple messenger, “My promise was a mistake.” Why should God be angry with what you say? Why should he destroy what you have done? 7 Dreaming too much and talking too much are meaningless. So have respect for God.
Riches Are Meaningless
8 Suppose you see poor people being mistreated somewhere. And what is being done to them isn’t right or fair. Don’t be surprised by that. One official is watched by a higher one. Officials who are even higher are watching both of them. 9 All of them take what the land produces. And the king himself takes his share from the fields.
10 Anyone who loves money never has enough.
Anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with what they get.
That doesn’t have any meaning either.
11 As more and more goods are made,
more and more people use them up.
So how can those goods benefit their owners?
All they can do is look at them with desire.
12 The sleep of a worker is sweet.
It doesn’t matter whether they eat a little or a lot.
But the wealth of rich people
keeps them awake at night.
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