Ecclesiastes 5:4-18

⁴When you solemnly promise God that you will do something, do not be foolish by delaying in doing it, because God is not pleased with foolish people. Do all the things that you promise God that you will do.

⁵It is better to not promise anything than to promise to do something, and then not doing it.

⁶Do not sin by promising to do something and then not doing it. And when you promise God to do something and do not do it, do not say to God's priest that it was a mistake for you to promise to do that. If you do that, God will certainly RHQ become very angry with you, and he will take from you everything that you SYN have worked to acquire.

⁷Promising to do something and not doing it is like SIM a dream that has no value; instead, revere God by doing what you promised him that you would do.

⁸Do not be surprised if you see poor people being ◄oppressed/treated cruelly► by powerful/influential people, or if you see judges making unjust decisions throughout the land. That happens because the people who do that are supervised and cheated by more important officials DOU,

⁹and even the king forces the people to give him some of the crops that they harvest.

¹⁰Everyone who tries to get as much money as they can will never think that they have enough. They will never be satisfied with the money that they have. That also is senseless.

¹¹The more money that we have, the more people want us to spend our money to buy things for them. So people who have a lot of money do not RHQ benefit from it; they see MTY it when they get it, but it soon ◄disappears/is completely spent►.

¹²Those who work hard sleep peacefully at night, even if they do not have much food to eat. But rich people do not sleep well, because they worry about their money.

¹³I have seen another terrible thing that happens here on the earth MTY: People save up all their money and become rich, but they are not helped by saving a lot of money,

¹⁴because something happens that causes their money to be gone, and when they die, there is no money for their children to get/inherit.

¹⁵When we are born, we do not bring anything with us, and when we die, we take nothing with us from all that we have earned by our working hard.

¹⁶That also seems senseless. People bring nothing into the world when they are born, and they leave this world taking nothing with them. They have worked hard, but they receive no lasting benefit MET.

¹⁷Furthermore, rich people are always miserable MET and sad, and depressed/discouraged and often sick and ◄resentful/thinking that what has happened to them is unfair►.

¹⁸So, the best thing for people to do here on the earth during the few years that God allows them to be alive is to eat and drink and to enjoy their work, because those are the things that God has given to them.