Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 5

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to make a promise in God's presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.	1 You should not speak anything rashly, nor should your heart be hasty to present a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth. For this reason, let your words be few.
2 For nightmares come with many cares, and a fool's utterance with many words.	2 Dreams follow many worries, and in many words foolishness will be found.
3 When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed.	3 If you have vowed anything to God, you should not delay to repay it. And whatever you have vowed, render it. But an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases him.
4 You had better not make a vow than make it and not fulfill it.	4 And it is much better not to make a vow, than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised.
5 Let not your utterances make you guilty, and say not before his representative, "It was a mistake," lest God be angered by such words and destroy the works of your hands.	5 You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, “There is no Providence.” For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands.
6 Rather, fear God!	6 Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities and innumerable words. Yet truly, you must fear God.
7 If you see oppression of the poor, and violation of rights and justice in the realm, do not be shocked by the fact, for the high official has another higher than he watching him and above these are others higher still--.	7 If you see false accusations against the indigent, and violent judgments, and subverted justice in the government, do not be surprised over this situation. For those in high places have others who are higher, and there are still others, more eminent, over these.
8 Yet an advantage for a country in every respect is a king for the arable land.	8 But finally, there is the King who rules over the entire earth, which is subject to him.
9 The covetous man is never satisfied with money, and the lover of wealth reaps no fruit from it; so this too is vanity.	9 A greedy man will not be satisfied by money. And whoever loves wealth will reap no fruit from it. Therefore, this, too, is emptiness.
10 Where there are great riches, there are also many to devour them. Of what use are they to the owner except to feast his eyes upon?	10 Where there are many riches, there will also be many to consume these things. And how does it benefit the one who possesses, except that he discerns the wealth with his own eyes?
11 Sleep is sweet to the laboring man, whether he eats little or much, but the rich man's abundance allows him no sleep.	11 Sleep is sweet to one who works, whether he consumes little or much. But the satiation of a wealthy man will not permit him to sleep.
12 This is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his hurt.	12 There is even another most burdensome infirmity, which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept to the harm of the owner.
13 Should the riches be lost through some misfortune, he may have a son when he is without means.	13 For they are lost in a most grievous affliction. He has produced a son, who will be in the utmost destitution.
14 As he came forth from his mother's womb, so again shall he depart, naked as he came, having nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.	14 Just as he went forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and he shall take nothing with him from his labors.
15 This too is a grievous evil, that he goes just as he came. What then does it profit him to toil for wind?	15 It is an utterly miserable infirmity that, in the same manner as he has arrived, so shall he return. How then does it benefit him, since he has labored for the wind?
16 All the days of his life are passed in gloom and sorrow, under great vexation, sickness and wrath.	16 All the days of his life he consumes: in darkness, and with many worries, and in distress as well as sadness.
17 Here is what I recognize as good: it is well for a man to eat and drink and enjoy all the fruits of his labor under the sun during the limited days of the life which God gives him; for this is his lot.	17 And so, this has seemed good to me: that a person should eat and drink, and should enjoy the fruits of his labor, in which he has toiled under the sun, for the number of the days of his life that God has given him. For this is his portion.
18 Any man to whom God gives riches and property, and grants power to partake of them, so that he receives his lot and finds joy in the fruits of his toil, has a gift from God.	18 And this is a gift from God: that every man to whom God has given wealth and resources, and to whom he has granted the ability to consume these, may enjoy his portion, and may find joy in his labors.
19 For he will hardly dwell on the shortness of his life, because God lets him busy himself with the joy of his heart.	19 And then he will not fully remember the days of his life, because God occupies his heart with delights.