Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 5"

Ecclesiastes 5

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil.

2 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 upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

3 For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.

4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

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

6 Let not your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?

7 For when dreams increase, empty words grow many: but do you fear God.

8 If you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violently taken away, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.

9 But in all, a king is an advantage to a land with cultivated fields.

10 He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.

11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them; and what gain 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 surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep.

13 There is a grievous evil which 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 As he came from his mother's womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil, which he may carry away in his hand.

16 This also is a grievous evil: just as he came, so shall he go; and what gain has he that he toiled for the wind,

17 and spent all his days in darkness and grief, in much vexation and sickness and resentment?

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and to be fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life which God has given him, for this is his lot.

19 Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil--this is 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.

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.