Ecclesiastes 5:1-8

English Standard Version

Fear God

5 ^{[a] (A)}Guard your steps when you go to ^(B)the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to ^(C)offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. ^2 [b] Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore ^(D)let your words be few. ³ For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with ^(E)many words.

⁴ When ^(F)you vow a vow to God, ^(G)do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. ^(H)Pay what you vow. ^5 (I)It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶ Let not your mouth lead you^[c] into sin, and do not say before ^(J)the messenger^[d] that it was ^(K)a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity;^[e] but^{[f] (L)}God is the one you must fear.

The Vanity of Wealth and Honor

^8 (M)If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, ^(N)do not be amazed at the matter, ^(O)for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. ⁹ But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields.^[g]

¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. ¹¹ When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? ¹² Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.

^13 (P)There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, ¹⁴ and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. ^15 (Q)As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go, and what ^(R)gain is there to him who ^(S)toils for the wind? ¹⁷ Moreover, all his days he ^(T)eats in darkness in much vexation and sickness and anger.

¹⁸ Behold, what I have seen to be ^(U)good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment^[h] in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his ^(V)lot. ¹⁹ Everyone also to whom ^(W)God has given ^(X)wealth and possessions ^(Y)and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is ^(Z)the gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

6 ^(AA)There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: ² a man ^(AB)to whom ^(AC)God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he ^(AD)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God ^(AE)does not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;^[i] it is a grievous evil. ³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that ^(AF)the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life's ^(AG)good things, and he also has no ^(AH)burial, I say that ^(AI)a stillborn child is better off than he. ⁴ For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. ⁵ Moreover, it has not ^(AJ)seen the sun or known anything, yet it finds ^(AK)rest rather than he. ⁶ Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy^[j] no good—do not all go to the one place?

^7 (AL)All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.^{[k] 8} For what advantage has the wise man ^(AM)over the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? ⁹ Better ^(AN)is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is ^(AO)vanity and a striving after wind.

¹⁰ Whatever has come to be has ^(AP)already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to ^(AQ)dispute with one stronger than he. ¹¹ The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? ¹² For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his ^(AR)vain^[l] life, which he passes like ^(AS)a shadow? For who can tell man what will be ^(AT)after him under the sun?

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly

^14 (BL)In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, ^(BM)so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

¹⁵ In my ^(BN)vain^[o] life I have seen everything. There is ^(BO)a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who ^(BP)prolongs his life in his evildoing. ¹⁶ Be not overly righteous, and do not ^(BQ)make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. ^(BR)Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of ^(BS)this, and from ^(BT)that ^(BU)withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

^19 (BV)Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

²⁰ Surely ^(BW)there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

²¹ Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear ^(BX)your servant cursing you. ²² Your heart knows that ^(BY)many times you yourself have cursed others.

²³ All this I have tested by wisdom. ^(BZ)I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. ²⁴ That which has been is far off, and ^(CA)deep, very deep; ^(CB)who can find it out?

^25 (CC)I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. ²⁶ And I find something more ^(CD)bitter than death: ^(CE)the woman whose heart is ^(CF)snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but ^(CG)the sinner is taken by her. ²⁷ Behold, this is what I found, says ^(CH)the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— ²⁸ which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. ^(CI)One man among a thousand I found, but ^(CJ)a woman among all these I have not found. ²⁹ See, this alone I found, that ^(CK)God made man upright, but ^(CL)they have sought out many schemes.

Keep the King's Command