1Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God , and be more ready to hear , than to give the sacrifice of fools : for they consider not that they do evil . 2Be not rash with thy mouth , and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God : for God is in heaven , and thou upon earth : therefore let thy words be few . 3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business ; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words . 4When thou vowest a vow unto God , defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools : pay that which thou hast vowed . 5Better is it that thou shouldest not vow , than that thou shouldest vow and not pay . 6Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin ; neither say thou before the angel , that it was an error : wherefore should God be angry at thy voice , and destroy the work of thine hands ?
The Vanity of Wealth and Labor
7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities : but fear thou God . 8If thou seest the oppression of the poor , and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province , marvel not at the matter : for he that is higher than the highest regardeth ; and there be higher than they . 9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field . 10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver ; nor he that loveth abundance with increase : this is also vanity . 11When goods increase , they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes ? 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet , whether he eat little or much : but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep . 13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun , namely , riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt . 14But those riches perish by evil travail : and he begetteth a son , and there is nothing in his hand . 15As he came forth of his mother’s womb , naked shall he return to go as he came , and shall take nothing of his labour , which he may carry away in his hand . 16And this also is a sore evil , that in all points as he came , so shall he go : and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind ? 17All his days also he eateth in darkness , and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness .
The Joy of Contentment
18Behold that which I have seen : it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink , and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life , which God giveth him: for it is his portion . 19Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth , and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion , and to rejoice in his labour ; this is the gift of God . 20For he shall not much remember the days of his life ; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart .