Ecclesiastes:5-8
Seeker Overlay ON
*
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God ,
and be more ready to hear ,
than to give the sacrifice of fools :
for they consider not that they do evil .
*
Be not rash with thy mouth ,
and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God :
for God is in heaven ,
and thou upon earth :
therefore let thy words be few .
*
For a dream cometh through the multitude of business ;
and a fool '
s voice is known by multitude of words .
*
When thou vowest a vow unto God ,
defer not to pay it ;
for he hath no pleasure in fools :
pay that which thou hast vowed .
*
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow ,
than that thou shouldest vow and not pay .
*
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin ;
neither say thou before the angel ,
that it was an error :
wherefore should God be angry at thy voice ,
and destroy the work of thine hands ?
*
For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities :
but fear thou God .
*
If thou seest the oppression of the poor ,
and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province ,
marvel not at the matter :
for he that is higher than the highest regardeth ;
and there be higher than they .
*
Moreover the profit of the earth is for all :
the king himself is served by the field .
*
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver ;
nor he that loveth abundance with increase :
this is also vanity .
*
When goods increase ,
they are increased that eat them :
and what good is there to the owners thereof ,
saving the beholding of them with their eyes ?
*
The sleep of a labouring man is sweet ,
whether he eat little or much :
but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep .
*
There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun ,
namely ,
riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt .
*
But those riches perish by evil travail :
and he begetteth a son ,
and there is nothing in his hand .
*
As he came forth of his mother '
s womb ,
naked shall he return to go as he came ,
and shall take nothing of his labour ,
which he may carry away in his hand .
*
And this also is a sore evil ,
that in all points as he came ,
so shall he go :
and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind ?
*
All his days also he eateth in darkness ,
and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness .
*
Behold that which I have seen :
it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink ,
and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life ,
which God giveth him :
for it is his portion .
*
Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth ,
and hath given him power to eat thereof ,
and to take his portion ,
and to rejoice in his labour ;
this is the gift of God .
*
For he shall not much remember the days of his life ;
because God answereth him in the joy of his heart .
*
There is an evil which I have seen under the sun ,
and it is common among men :
*
A man to whom God hath given riches ,
wealth ,
and honour ,
so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth ,
yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof ,
but a stranger eateth it :
this is vanity ,
and it is an evil disease .
*
If a man beget an hundred children ,
and live many years ,
so that the days of his years be many ,
and his soul be not filled with good ,
and also that he have no burial ;
I say ,
that an untimely birth is better than he .
*
For he cometh in with vanity ,
and departeth in darkness ,
and his name shall be covered with darkness .
*
Moreover he hath not seen the sun ,
nor known any thing :
this hath more rest than the other .
*
Yea ,
though he live a thousand years twice told ,
yet hath he seen no good :
do not all go to one place ?
*
All the labour of man is for his mouth ,
and yet the appetite is not filled .
*
For what hath the wise more than the fool ?
what hath the poor ,
that knoweth to walk before the living ?
*
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire :
this is also vanity and vexation of spirit .
*
That which hath been is named already ,
and it is known that it is man :
neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he .
*
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity ,
what is man the better ?
*
For who knoweth what is good for man in this life ,
all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow ?
for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun ?
*
A good name is better than precious ointment ;
and the day of death than the day of one '
s birth .
*
It is better to go to the house of mourning ,
than to go to the house of feasting :
for that is the end of all men ;
and the living will lay it to his heart .
*
Sorrow is better than laughter :
for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better .
*
The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning ;
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth .
*
It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise ,
than for a man to hear the song of fools .
*
For as the crackling of thorns under a pot ,
so is the laughter of the fool :
this also is vanity .
*
Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad ;
and a gift destroyeth the heart .
*
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof :
and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit .
*
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry :
for anger resteth in the bosom of fools .
*
Say not thou ,
What is the cause that the former days were better than these ?
for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this .
*
Wisdom is good with an inheritance :
and by it there is profit to them that see the sun .
*
For wisdom is a defence ,
and money is a defence :
but the excellency of knowledge is ,
that wisdom giveth life to them that have it .
*
Consider the work of God :
for who can make that straight ,
which he hath made crooked ?
*
In the day of prosperity be joyful ,
but in the day of adversity consider :
God also hath set the one over against the other ,
to the end that man should find nothing after him .
*
All things have I seen in the days of my vanity :
there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness ,
and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness .
*
Be not righteous over much ;
neither make thyself over wise :
why shouldest thou destroy thyself ?
*
Be not over much wicked ,
neither be thou foolish :
why shouldest thou die before thy time ?
*
It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this ;
yea ,
also from this withdraw not thine hand :
for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all .
*
Wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city .
*
For there is not a just man upon earth ,
that doeth good ,
and sinneth not .
*
Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken ;
lest thou hear thy servant curse thee :
*
For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others .
*
All this have I proved by wisdom :
I said ,
I will be wise ;
but it was far from me .
*
That which is far off ,
and exceeding deep ,
who can find it out ?
*
I applied mine heart to know ,
and to search ,
and to seek out wisdom ,
and the reason of things ,
and to know the wickedness of folly ,
even of foolishness and madness :
*
And I find more bitter than death the woman ,
whose heart is snares and nets ,
and her hands as bands :
whoso pleaseth God shall escape from her ;
but the sinner shall be taken by her .
*
Behold ,
this have I found ,
saith the preacher ,
counting one by one ,
to find out the account :
*
Which yet my soul seeketh ,
but I find not :
one man among a thousand have I found ;
but a woman among all those have I not found .
*
Lo ,
this only have I found ,
that God hath made man upright ;
but they have sought out many inventions .
*
Who is as the wise man ?
and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing ?
a man '
s wisdom maketh his face to shine ,
and the boldness of his face shall be changed .
*
I counsel thee to keep the king '
s commandment ,
and that in regard of the oath of God .
*
Be not hasty to go out of his sight :
stand not in an evil thing ;
for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him .
*
Where the word of a king is ,
there is power :
and who may say unto him ,
What doest thou ?
*
Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing :
and a wise man '
s heart discerneth both time and judgment .
*
Because to every purpose there is time and judgment ,
therefore the misery of man is great upon him .
*
For he knoweth not that which shall be :
for who can tell him when it shall be ?
*
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit ;
neither hath he power in the day of death :
and there is no discharge in that war ;
neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it .
*
All this have I seen ,
and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun :
there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt .
*
And so I saw the wicked buried ,
who had come and gone from the place of the holy ,
and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done :
this is also vanity .
*
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily ,
therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil .
*
Though a sinner do evil an hundred times ,
and his days be prolonged ,
yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God ,
which fear before him :
*
But it shall not be well with the wicked ,
neither shall he prolong his days ,
which are as a shadow ;
because he feareth not before God .
*
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth ;
that there be just men ,
unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked ;
again ,
there be wicked men ,
to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous :
I said that this also is vanity .
*
Then I commended mirth ,
because a man hath no better thing under the sun ,
than to eat ,
and to drink ,
and to be merry :
for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life ,
which God giveth him under the sun .
*
When I applied mine heart to know wisdom ,
and to see the business that is done upon the earth : (
for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes :)
*
Then I beheld all the work of God ,
that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun :
because though a man labour to seek it out ,
yet he shall not find it ;
yea further ;
though a wise man think to know it ,
yet shall he not be able to find it .
*
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this ,
that the righteous ,
and the wise ,
and their works ,
are in the hand of God :
no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them .
![[pBiblx2]](/img/menu.png)
![[pBiblx2]](/img/pbiblx2_logo3.png){kind=logo}
![[BookofEcclesiastes]](/img/book.png)
![[Ecclesiastes:4]](/img/chapterprevious.png)
![[Ecclesiastes:5-8]](/img/chapterup.png)
![[Ecclesiastes:6]](/img/chapternext.png)
![[Discuss]](/img/discuss.png)
![[Audio]](/img/media.png)
![[Presentation]](/img/presentation.png)