ECCLESIASTES
OR
THE PREACHER
Ecclesiastes 5 ©
Solomon teaches the congregation how they shall behave themselves in the exercise of outward worship, v. 1, etc. Next, how they shall behave themselves when they see that rulers and such as are in authority do not administer justice, 7. Which is the best way of thriving, 8. The vanity of riches, and of covetousness, 9. Then he shows that man’s happiness consists in a cheerful enjoyment of the gifts of God, 17. Which, to be able to do, is likewise a gift of God, 18.
KEEP12thy 3foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready 4to hear, 5than to give the sacrifice of fools: 6for they consider not that they do evil.
7Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any 8thing before God: for God is in heaven, and 9thou upon earth: therefore 10let thy words be few.
For 11a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.
Whena thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure 12in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
Betterbis it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
Suffer not thy mouth 13to cause 14thy flesh to sin; 15neither say thou before 16the angel, that it was 17an error: 18wherefore should God be angry 19at thy voice, and 20destroy the work of thine hands?
For 21inc the multitude of dreams and 22many words there are also divers vanities: 23but fear thou God.
¶ 24If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, 25marvel not at the 26matter: for he that is 27higher than the highest 28regardeth; and there be 29higher 30than they.
¶Moreover 31the profit of the earth is 32for all: the king himself 33is served by the field.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he 34that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
35When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and 36what good 37is there to the 38owners thereof, 39saving the beholding of them with their eyes?
40The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but 41the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
There is a sore 42evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, 43riches kept for 44the owners thereof 45to their hurt.
But those riches perish 46by evil travail: and 47he begetteth a son, and 48there is nothing in his hand.
As 49he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shalld take nothing 50of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he 51came, so shall he 52go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured 53for the wind?
All his days also he eateth 54in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and 55wrath with 56his sickness.
¶Behold that which I have seen: it is goode and comely for one 57to eat and to drink, and 58to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: 59forf it is his portion.
Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and 60hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God.
For 61he shall not much remember the days of his life; 62because God answereth him 63in the joy of his heart.