Ecclesiastes 5:1-6:12

5. Your Attitude Toward God

¹Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil. ²Do not be hasty in word or 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 words be few. ³For the dream comes through much effort and the voice of a fool through many words.

⁴When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow! ⁵It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. ⁶Do not let your speech cause you to sin and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a 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 emptiness. Rather, fear God.

⁸If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight; for one official watches over another official, and there are higher officials over them. ⁹After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.

The Folly of Riches

¹⁰He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. ¹¹When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? ¹²The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

¹³There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to his hurt. ¹⁴When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing to support him. ¹⁵As he had come naked from his mother’s womb, so will he return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁶This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? ¹⁷Throughout his life he also eats in darkness with great vexation, sickness and anger.

¹⁸Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward. ¹⁹Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. ²⁰For he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart.

6. The Futility of Life

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun and it is prevalent among men— ²a man to whom God has given riches and wealth and honor so that his soul lacks nothing of all that he desires; yet God has not empowered him to eat from them, for a foreigner enjoys them. This is vanity and a severe affliction. ³If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, “Better the miscarriage than he, ⁴for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. ⁵It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he. ⁶Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things—do not all go to one place?”

⁷All a man’s labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied. ⁸For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living? ⁹What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and a striving after wind.

¹⁰Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; for he cannot dispute with him who is stronger than he is. ¹¹For there are many words which increase futility. What then is the advantage to a man? ¹²For who knows what is good for a man during his lifetime, during the few years of his futile life? He will spend them like a shadow. For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?