Chapter 5

¹Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. ²Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly. ³If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it. ⁴And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised. ⁵Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands. ⁶Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God. ⁷If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these: ⁸Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him. ⁹A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity. ¹⁰Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes? ¹¹Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat lttle or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. ¹²There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner. ¹³For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want. ¹⁴As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour. ¹⁵A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind? ¹⁶All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow. ¹⁷This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion. ¹⁸And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God. ¹⁹For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight,