5:1 ①Guard your steps as you go to the house of God, and approach to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil.
▷ ①Ch 4:17 in Heb
5:2 ①Do not be quick with your mouth or ②impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.
▷ ①Ch 5:1 in Heb ②Lit hurry your heart
5:3 For the dream comes through much ①effort, and the voice of a fool through many words.
▷ ①Lit task
5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow!
5:5 It is better that you not vow, than vow and not pay.
5:6 Do not let your ①speech cause ②you to sin, and do not say in the presence of the messenger of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry on account of your voice, and destroy the work of your hands?
▷ ①Lit mouth ②Lit your body
5:7 For in many dreams and in many words there is futility. Rather, ①fear God.
▷ ①Or revere
5:8 If you see oppression of the poor and denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the ①sight; for one ②official watches over another ③official, and there are higher ④officials over them.
▷ ①Lit delight ②Lit high one ③Lit high one ④Lit ones
5:9 After all, a king who cultivates the field is beneficial to the land.
5:10 One who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor one who loves abundance with its income. This too is futility.
5:11 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to ①look at them?
▷ ①Lit see with their eyes
5:12 The sleep of the laborer is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the ①full stomach of the rich person does not allow him to sleep.
▷ ①Lit satiety
5:13 There is a sickening evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth being ①hoarded by its owner to his detriment.
▷ ①Lit guarded
5:14 When that wealth was lost through bad business and he had fathered a son, then there was nothing ①to support him.
▷ ①Lit in his hand
5:15 As he came naked from his mother’s womb, so he will return as he came. He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can carry in his hand.
5:16 This also is a sickening evil: exactly as a person ①is born, so will he ②die. What then is the advantage for him who labors for the wind?
▷ ①Lit comes ②Lit go
5:17 All his life he also eats in darkness with great irritation, sickness, and anger.
5:18 Here is what I have seen to be good and ①fitting: to eat, to drink, and ②enjoy oneself in all one’s labor in which he labors under the sun during the few ③years of his life which God has given him; for this is his ④reward.
▷ ①Lit beautiful ②Lit see good ③Or days ④Or share
5:19 Furthermore, as for every person to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also given him the opportunity to ①enjoy them and to receive his ②reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.
▷ ①Lit eat from it ②Or share
5:20 For he will not often call to mind the ①years of his life, because God keeps ②him busy with the joy of his heart.
▷ ①Or days ②As in LXX