{[Chapter 4:17 in Hebrew]}Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil. {[Chapter 5:1 in Hebrew]}
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter {Or, a word}anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
For a dream cometh with a multitude of {Or, travail}business, and a fool's voice with a multitude of words.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest.
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the {Or, messenger of God See Malachi 2:7.}angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands?
For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words: but fear thou God.
If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in {Or, the state}a province, marvel not at the matter: for one higher than the high regardeth; and there are higher than they.
{Or, But the profit of a land every way is a king that maketh himself servant to the field (or, is a king over the cultivated field)}Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.
He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: this also is vanity.
When goods increase, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes?
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.
There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept by the owner thereof to his hurt:
and those riches perish by evil {Or, travail}adventure; and if he hath begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand.
As he came forth from his mother's womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that he laboreth for the wind?
All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he is sore vexed, and hath sickness and wrath.
Behold, {Or, that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one &c.}that which I have seen to be good and to be comely is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, wherein he laboreth under the sun, {Hebrew: the number of days.}all the days of his life which God hath given him: for this is his portion.
Every 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 labor — this is the gift of God.
For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
Querverweise zu Prediger 5,14 Pred 5,14
For to the man that pleaseth him God giveth wisdom, and knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that pleaseth God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.
Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive:He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.
Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich:He bringeth low, he also lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,To make them sit with princes,And inherit the throne of glory:For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's,And he hath set the world upon them.
Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,And taketh it even out of the thorns;And {According to Vulgate, the thirsty swallow up.}the snare gapeth for their substance.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thy house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again;God will cast them out of his belly.
He shall suck the poison of asps:The viper's tongue shall slay him.
He shall not look upon the rivers,The flowing streams of honey and butter.
That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down;According to the substance {Hebrew: of his exchange.}that he hath gotten, he shall not rejoice.
For he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor;He hath violently taken away a house, {Or, which he builded not}and he shall not build it up.
Because he knew no quietness {Or, in his greed Hebrew: in his belly.}within him,He shall not save aught of that wherein he delighteth.
There was nothing left that he devoured not;Therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:The hand of every one that is in misery shall come upon him.
{Or, Let it be for the filling of his belly that God shall cast &c.}When he is about to fill his belly,God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him,And will rain it upon him {Or, as his food}while he is eating.
He shall flee from the iron weapon,And the bow of brass shall strike him through.
He draweth it forth, and it cometh out of his body;Yea, the glittering point cometh out of his gall:Terrors are upon him.
All darkness is laid up for his treasures:A fire not blown by man shall devour him; {Or, It shall go ill with him that is left}It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
The heavens shall reveal his iniquity,And the earth shall rise up against him.
The increase of his house shall depart;His goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
This is the portion of a wicked man from God,And the heritage appointed unto him by God.
and he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king's house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
Though he heap up silver as the dust,And prepare raiment as the clay;
Let his children be fatherless,And his wife a widow.
Let his children be vagabonds, and beg;And let them seek their bread {Or, far from}out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner {Hebrew: snare.}catch all that he hath;And let strangers make spoil of his labor.
Let there be none to {Or, continued}extend kindness unto him;Neither let there be any to have pity on his fatherless children.
He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,And the innocent shall divide the silver.
Surely every man walketh {Or, as a shadow}in a vain show;Surely they are disquieted {Or, for vanity}in vain:He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
{Or, Wilt thou set thine eyes upon it? it is gone Hebrew: Shall thine eyes fly upon it, and it is not?}Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?For riches certainly make themselves wings,Like an eagle that flieth toward heaven.
Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did {Or, blow it away}blow upon it. Why? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, while ye run every man to his own house.
{Hebrew: since those days were.}Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten; when one came to the winevat to draw out fifty vessels, there were but twenty.
I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith Jehovah.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves {Greek: dig through.}break through and steal:
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not {Greek: dig through.}break through nor steal: