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your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not consider that they are doing evil.
2 Never be rash with your mouth,
or let your heart be hasty
in uttering anything before God,
for God is in heaven,
and you are on earth,
so let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes from many cares,
and a fool’s voice is known when there are many words.
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for He has no pleasure in fools; so fulfil what you have vowed. 5 It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not fulfil it. 6 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry with what you say and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For with the coming of many dreams and many words vanity arises. Therefore, stand in the fear of God.
8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the denial of justice and righteousness in a province, do not be amazed at the matter; for one official is watched by a higher official, and there are others higher than they. 9 Moreover the increase of the land is for all; the king himself is served by the fields.
10 Whoever loves money will never have enough money;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is futile.
11 When goods increase,
so do those who consume them;
so what advantage is there to the owners,
except to gaze at them with their eyes?
12 The sleep of a labourer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of the rich
will not permit him to sleep.
13 I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded by its owner to his harm,
14or wealth that was lost in some misfortune,
so that when he fathered a son,
there was nothing left for him.
15 As a man comes naked from his mother’s womb,
so will he depart.
He will take nothing from all his labours
that he can carry in his hands.
16 This too is a grievous evil:
Just as a man comes, so he departs;
what does he gain
since he toils for the wind?
17 Besides, all his days he eats in darkness,
and he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.
18 This is what I have seen to be good and fitting for a person: to eat and to drink, and to find satisfaction from all his labour that he has toiled at under the sun all the days of his life that God has given him—for this is his portion. 19 Moreover, to every man God gives riches and wealth, and empowers him to enjoy them, and to take his reward, and to rejoice in his labour—this is a gift of God. 20 For he does not often reflect on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.