Ecclesiastes 5

New American Standard Bible

Your Attitude toward God

5 ^[a]^(A)Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and approach to listen rather than to offer the ^(B)sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. ²^[b]Do not be ^(C)quick with your mouth or ^[c]impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your ^(D)words be few. ³For the dream comes through much ^[d]effort, and the voice of a ^(E)fool through many words.

⁴When you ^(F)make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. ^(G)Pay what you vow! ⁵It is ^(H)better that you not vow, than vow and not pay. ⁶Do not let your ^[e]speech cause ^[f]you to sin, and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a ^(I)mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷For in many dreams and in many words there is futility. Rather, ^[g]^(J)fear God.

⁸If you see ^(K)oppression of the poor and ^(L)denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be ^(M)shocked at the ^[h]sight; for one ^[i]official watches over another ^[j]official, and there are higher ^[k]officials over them. ⁹After all, a king who cultivates the field is beneficial to the land.

The Foolishness of Riches

¹⁰^(N)One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility. ¹¹^(O)When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to ^[l]look at them? ¹²The sleep of the laborer is ^(P)sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the ^[m]full stomach of the rich person does not allow him to sleep.

¹³There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: ^(Q)wealth being ^[n]hoarded by its owner to his detriment. ¹⁴When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing ^[o]to support him. ¹⁵^(R)As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came. He will ^(S)take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person ^[p]is born, so will he ^[q]die. ^(T)What then is the advantage for him who ^(U)labors for the wind? ¹⁷All his life ^(V)he also eats in darkness with ^(W)great irritation, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be ^(X)good and ^[r]fitting: to eat, to drink, and ^[s]enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few ^[t]years of his life which God has given him; for this is his ^[u]^(Y)reward. ¹⁹Furthermore, as for every person to whom ^(Z)God has given riches and wealth, He has also ^(AA)given him the opportunity to ^[v]enjoy them and to receive his ^[w]reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the ^(AB)gift of God. ²⁰For he will not often call to mind the ^[x]years of his life, because ^(AC)God keeps ^[y]him busy with the joy of his heart.

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 5:1 Ch 4:17 in Heb
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Ch 5:1 in Heb
Ecclesiastes 5:2 Lit hurry your heart
Ecclesiastes 5:3 Lit task
Ecclesiastes 5:6 Lit mouth
Ecclesiastes 5:6 Lit your body
Ecclesiastes 5:7 Or revere
Ecclesiastes 5:8 Lit delight
Ecclesiastes 5:8 Lit high one
Ecclesiastes 5:8 Lit high one
Ecclesiastes 5:8 Lit ones
Ecclesiastes 5:11 Lit see with their eyes
Ecclesiastes 5:12 Lit satiety
Ecclesiastes 5:13 Lit guarded
Ecclesiastes 5:14 Lit in his hand
Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit comes
Ecclesiastes 5:16 Lit go
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit beautiful
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Lit see good
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or days
Ecclesiastes 5:18 Or share
Ecclesiastes 5:19 Lit eat from it
Ecclesiastes 5:19 Or share
Ecclesiastes 5:20 Or days
Ecclesiastes 5:20 As in LXX

Ecclesiastes 6

New American Standard Bible

The Futility of Life

6 There is an ^(A)evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is widespread ^[a]among mankind: ²a person to whom God has ^(B)given riches, wealth, and honor, so that his soul ^(C)lacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God has not given him the opportunity to ^[b]enjoy these things, but a foreigner ^[c]enjoys them. This is futility and a severe affliction. ³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many ^[d]they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper ^(D)burial, then I say, “Better ^(E)the miscarriage than he, ⁴for a miscarriage comes in futility and goes into darkness; and its name is covered in darkness. ⁵It has not even seen the sun nor does it know it; yet ^[e]it is better off than that man. ⁶Even if the man lives a thousand years twice, but does not see good things—^(F)do not all go to one and the same place?”

⁷^(G)All a person’s labor is for his mouth, and yet ^[f]his appetite is not ^[g]satisfied. ⁸For ^(H)what advantage does the wise person have over the fool? What does the poor person have, knowing how to walk before the living? ⁹What the eyes ^(I)see is better than what the soul ^[h]desires. This too is ^(J)futility and striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever ^(K)exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he ^(L)cannot dispute with the ^[i]one who is mightier than he is. ¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a person? ¹²For who knows what is good for a person during his lifetime, during the few ^[j]years of his futile life? He will ^[k]spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a person ^(M)what will happen after him under the sun?

Footnotes

Ecclesiastes 6:1 Lit upon
Ecclesiastes 6:2 Lit eat from it
Ecclesiastes 6:2 Lit eats it
Ecclesiastes 6:3 Lit the days of his years
Ecclesiastes 6:5 Lit more rest has this one than that
Ecclesiastes 6:7 Lit the soul
Ecclesiastes 6:7 Lit filled
Ecclesiastes 6:9 Lit goes after
Ecclesiastes 6:10 Or Him who
Ecclesiastes 6:12 Lit days
Ecclesiastes 6:12 Lit do

Ecclesiastes 7

New American Standard Bible

Wisdom and Foolishness Contrasted

7 A ^(A)good name is better than good ^[a]oil,
And the ^(B)day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.
²It is better to go to a house of mourning
Than to go to a house of feasting,
Because ^[b]that is the ^(C)end of every person,
And the living ^[c]^(D)takes it to ^[d]heart.
³^(E)Sorrow is better than laughter,
For ^(F)when a face is sad a heart may be happy.
⁴The ^[e]mind of the wise is in the house of mourning,
While the ^[f]mind of fools is in the house of pleasure.
⁵It is better to ^(G)listen to the rebuke of a wise person
Than for one to listen to the song of fools.
⁶For as the ^[g]crackling of ^(H)thorn bushes under a pot,
So is the ^(I)laughter of the fool;
And this too is futility.
⁷For ^(J)oppression makes a wise person look foolish,
And a ^(K)bribe ^[h]corrupts the heart.
⁸The ^(L)end of a matter is better than its beginning;
^(M)Patience of spirit is better than arrogance of spirit.
⁹Do not be ^[i]^(N)eager in your spirit to be angry,
For anger resides in the ^[j]heart of fools.
¹⁰Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.
¹¹Wisdom along with an inheritance is good,
And an ^(O)advantage to those who see the sun.
¹²For ^(P)wisdom is ^[k]protection just as money is ^[l]protection,
But the advantage of knowledge is that ^(Q)wisdom keeps its possessors alive.
¹³Consider the ^(R)work of God,
For who is ^(S)able to straighten what He has bent?
¹⁴^(T)On the day of prosperity be happy,
But ^(U)on the day of adversity consider:
God has made the one as well as the other
So that a person will ^(V)not discover anything that will come after him.

¹⁵I have seen everything during my ^[m]^(W)lifetime of futility; there is ^(X)a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and there is ^(Y)a wicked person who prolongs his life in his wickedness. ¹⁶Do not be excessively ^(Z)righteous, and do not ^(AA)be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself? ¹⁷Do not be excessively wicked, and do not be foolish. Why should you ^(AB)die ^[n]before your time? ¹⁸It is good that you grasp one thing while not ^[o]letting go of the other; for one who ^(AC)fears God comes out with ^[p]both of them.

¹⁹^(AD)Wisdom strengthens a wise person more than ten rulers who are in a city. ²⁰Indeed, ^(AE)there is not a righteous person on earth who always does good and does not ever sin. ²¹Also, do not ^[q]take seriously all the words which are spoken, so that you do not hear your servant ^(AF)cursing you, ²²for ^[r]you know that even you have cursed others many times as well.

²³I tested all this with wisdom, and I said, “I will be wise,” ^(AG)but wisdom was far from me. ²⁴What has been is remote and ^(AH)very ^[s]mysterious. ^(AI)Who can discover it? ²⁵I ^[t]^(AJ)directed my ^[u]mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity. ²⁶And I discovered as more ^(AK)bitter than death the woman whose heart is ^(AL)snares and nets, whose hands are chains. ^(AM)One who is pleasing to God will escape from her, but ^(AN)the sinner will be captured by her.

²⁷“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “by adding one thing to another to find an explanation, ²⁸which ^[v]I am still seeking but have not found. I have found one man among a thousand, but I have not found a ^(AO)woman among all these. ²⁹Behold, I have found only this, that ^(AP)God made people upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”