CHAPTER 5
Guard
your steps
when
you go
to
the house
of God.
Draw near
to listen
rather than to offer
the sacrifice
of fools,
who
do not
know that
they do
wrong.
Do not
be hasty
to
speak,
and do not let your heart
be
hasty
to utter
a word
before
God.
After all,
God
is in heaven
and you
are on
earth.
So
let your words
be
few.
When
you make
a vow
to God,
do not
delay
in fulfilling it,
because
He takes no
pleasure
in fools.
Fulfill
your vow.
Do not
let
your mouth
cause your body
to sin,
and do not
tell
the messenger
that
your vow
was a mistake.
Why
should God
be angry
with
your words
and destroy
the work
of your hands?
If
you see
the oppression
of the poor
and the denial
of justice
and righteousness
in the province,
do not
be astonished
at
the matter;
for
one official
is watched by
a superior,
and higher still
are over them.
He who loves
money
is never
satisfied
by money,
and he who
loves
wealth
is never
satisfied by income.
This
too
is futile.
When good things
increase,
so do
those who consume them;
what then
is the profit
to the owner,
except
to behold them
with his eyes?
The sleep
of the worker
is sweet,
whether
he eats
little
or
much,
but the abundance
of the rich man
permits
him
no
sleep.
As
a man came
from his mother’s
womb,
so he will depart
again:
naked
as he arrived.
He takes
nothing
for his labor
to carry
in his hands.
This
too
is a grievous
evil:
Exactly as
a man is born,
so
he will depart.
What
does he gain
as he toils
for the wind?
Here
is what
I
have seen
to be good
and fitting:
to eat
and drink,
and to find
satisfaction
in all
the labor
one does
under
the sun
during the few
days
of life
that
God
has given him—
for
this
is his lot.
Furthermore,
God
has given
riches
and wealth
to
every
man,
and He has enabled
him to enjoy them,
to accept
his lot,
and to rejoice
in his labor.
This
is a gift
from God.
For
a man seldom
considers
the days
of his life,
because
God
keeps him occupied
with the joy
of his heart.