Ecclesiastes 5:5-19

⁵Better not to make any vows at all than to make vow you don't keep.

⁶Don't let your mouth cause you to sin. And don't tell the priest that your vow was a mistake, for why would you antagonize God by breaking your promise? He could bring your own curse down on you.

⁷There are certainly many dreams, questions of meaning, and lots of different ideas, but you are to follow God.

⁸If you see poor people somewhere being oppressed, or truth and justice violated, don't be shocked at it, for every official is responsible to others higher up, and there are officials over them as well.

⁹However, what the land produces is for everyone—even the king benefits from what is grown.

¹⁰People who love money never have enough money; those who love wealth never have enough income. This too is so temporary and makes little sense.

¹¹The more you earn, the more you have eating into your income. It only looks like you have more!

¹²Those who work hard sleep well, whether they have a little to eat or plenty, but the rich own so much they don't get any rest.

¹³I observed something here that is really sickening: people who hoard money damage themselves.

¹⁴They put their money into bad investments and lose everything. Now when we're born, we don't bring anything into the world.

¹⁵When we die, we leave just as naked as when we were born, taking nothing with us from all we've worked for.

¹⁶This also makes me sick! What do people gain, working for the wind?

¹⁷They live their lives in darkness, very frustrated, sick, and resentful.

¹⁸But I observed that what is good and right is to eat, drink, and to find enjoyment in the work God gives us here in this life. This is God's gift to us.

¹⁹In addition, everyone to whom God gives wealth and possessions he also gives the ability to enjoy these gifts, to be grateful for what they are given, and to enjoy the work they do. This is also God's gift to us.