| 1 | Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil. |
| 2 | Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few. |
| 3 | For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words. |
| 4 | When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow. |
| 5 | It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it. |
| 6 | Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands? |
| 7 | With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words; but fear God. |
| 8 | If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. |
| 9 | But all things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a plowed field. |
| 10 | The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of wealth, with gain. This also is vanity. |
| 11 | When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has their owner but to see them with his eyes? |
| 12 | Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep. |
| 13 | There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owners to their hurt, |
| 14 | and those riches were lost in a bad venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their hands. |
| 15 | As they came from their mother’s womb, so they shall go again, naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they may carry away with their hands. |
| 16 | This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind? |
| 17 | Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and resentment. |
| 18 | This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. |
| 19 | Likewise all to whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them, and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil — this is the gift of God. |
| 20 | For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives, because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts. |