Ecclesiastes

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.

1Watch your steps when you go to the house of God. Go there ready to listen. Do not be like fools, who bring their sacrifices without knowing they are doing wrong.

2Be 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.

2Do not blurt things out. Do not let your heart rush you into speaking to God. God is in heaven and you are on earth. So keep your words few.

3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.

3Too many worries bring dreams at night. Too many words mark the talk of a fool.

4When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

4When you promise something to God, do not put off doing it. God takes no pleasure in fools. Do what you promised.

5Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

5It is better not to make a promise at all than to make one and not keep it.

6Suffer 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?

6Do not let your own mouth lead you into sin. Do not tell the messenger it was a mistake. Why make God angry with your words, so that he tears down your work?

NoteThe "angel" here is a messenger, most likely the temple official who came to collect what a person had promised to give.

7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

7Many dreams and many words are alike: both are empty. So take God seriously.

NoteThe KJV word "vanity" does not mean pride. In this book it means something empty and passing, like a breath.

8If 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.

8If you see poor people crushed, and fair judgment twisted in a province, do not be shocked. Each official is watched by one above him, and others are higher still.

9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

9And the land's crops are for everyone. Even the king depends on the fields.

10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

10Whoever loves money never has enough money. Whoever loves piles of things is never happy with more. This too is empty.

11When 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?

11When your goods increase, so do the people who use them up. What does the owner gain, except to look at it all?

12The 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.

12A working man sleeps well, whether he eats a little or a lot. But a rich man's pile of goods keeps him awake.

Note"Will not suffer him to sleep" is old English for "will not let him sleep."

13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

13Here is a painful wrong I have seen in this world: a man hoards his riches, and they end up harming him.

14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

14Then the riches are lost in a bad deal. He has a son, and there is nothing left to hand him.

15As 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.

15A man comes from his mother's body with nothing, and he leaves the same way. He carries none of his work away in his hand.

16And 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?

16This too is a painful wrong: he leaves exactly as he came. So what did he gain by working for the wind?

17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

17All his days he eats in the dark. He carries much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

18Behold 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.

18Here is what I have seen to be good and right: eat, drink, and enjoy the work you do in this world, through the short life God gives you. That is your share.

19Every 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.

19When God gives a man riches and goods, and lets him enjoy them, take his share, and be glad in his work, that is a gift from God.

20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

20He will not brood over how short his life is, because God keeps his heart busy with gladness.