Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 5"

Ecclesiastes 5

Good News Translation GNT

1 Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong.

2 Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to.

3 The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

4 So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do.

5 Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it.

6 Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for?

7 No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.

8 Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.

9 Even a king depends on the harvest.

10 If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless.

11 The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich.

12 Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.

13 Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,

14 and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children.

15 We leave this world just as we entered it - with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us.

16 It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get?

17 We get to live our lives in darkness and grief, worried, angry, and sick.

18 Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate.

19 If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God.

20 Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.

World English Bible WEB

1 Guard your steps when you go to God's house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don't know that they do evil.

2 Don't be rash with your mouth, and don't let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few.

3 For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool's speech with a multitude of words.

4 When you vow a vow to God, don't defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.

5 It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay.

6 Don't allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don't protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

7 For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words: but you must fear God.

8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don't marvel at the matter: for one official is eyed by a higher one; and there are officials over them.

9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field.

10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?

12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.

14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.

15 As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.

16 This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind?

17 All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath.

18 Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion.

19 Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor -- this is the gift of God.

20 For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.