Ecclesiastes 5:3

3 Whenever thou shalt vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for no pleasure in fools: pay thou therefore whatsoever thou shalt have vowed.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ecclesiastes 5:3

For a dream cometh through the multitude of business
Or, "for as a dream" ^F17, so Aben Ezra; as that comes through a multiplicity of business in the daytime, in which the mind has been busied, and the body employed; and this brings on dreams in the night season, which are confused and incoherent; sometimes the fancy is employed about one thing, and sometimes another, and all unprofitable and useless, as well as vain and foolish; and a fool's voice [is known] by multitude of words;
either his voice in conversation, for a fool is full of words, and pours out his foolishness in a large profusion of them; or his voice in prayer, being like a man's dream, confused, incoherent, and rambling. The supplement, "is known", may be left out.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (ab yk) "ut prodit somnium", Junius & Tremellius; "nam ut venit", Piscator; "quia sicut venit", Mercerus, Ramabachius, so Broughton.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 In-Context

1 Be not hasty with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be swift to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven above, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

2 For through the multitude of trial a dream comes; and a fool's voice is with a multitude of words.

3 Whenever thou shalt vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for no pleasure in fools: pay thou therefore whatsoever thou shalt have vowed.

4 better that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

5 Suffer not thy mouth to lead thy flesh to sin; and say not in the presence of God, It was an error: lest God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the works of thy hands.