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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Ecclesiastes 5

Ecclesiastes 5: few words before God, and riches that cannot be kept

General context

The chapter opens with direct instruction: keep thy foot when going to the house of God, be readier to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, and be neither rash with the mouth nor hasty in heart before God, since God is in heaven and the hearer on earth, so words should be few. A dream comes through much business, a fool's voice through many words. Vows are to be paid without delay; it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay, and the hearer must not let his mouth cause his flesh to sin or tell the angel it was an error, lest God be angry and destroy the work of his hands. The section ends: fear thou God. The Preacher then addresses oppression of the poor and perverted judgment in a province, saying not to marvel, since one higher than the highest regards it; the profit of the earth is for all, and the king himself is served by the field. Sayings on wealth follow: the lover of silver is not satisfied, more goods bring more eaters, the labourer sleeps sweetly while abundance keeps the rich awake. He describes a sore evil he has seen: riches kept to the owner's hurt and lost by evil travail, so a son is born with nothing in his hand; naked as he came from the womb he returns, carrying nothing, having laboured for the wind and eaten in darkness with sorrow, wrath and sickness. The chapter ends on what the Preacher has seen to be good: to eat, drink and enjoy one's labour all the days God gives, since this is one's portion; riches with the power to eat of them are God's gift, and such a man does not much remember his days because God answers him in the joy of his heart.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 5:1, Ecclesiastes 5:2, Ecclesiastes 5:3, Ecclesiastes 5:4, Ecclesiastes 5:5, Ecclesiastes 5:6, Ecclesiastes 5:7, Ecclesiastes 5:8, Ecclesiastes 5:9, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Ecclesiastes 5:11, Ecclesiastes 5:12, Ecclesiastes 5:13, Ecclesiastes 5:14, Ecclesiastes 5:15, Ecclesiastes 5:16, Ecclesiastes 5:17, Ecclesiastes 5:18, Ecclesiastes 5:19, Ecclesiastes 5:20

Ecclesiastes 5 (KJV)

1Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.

2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.

4When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.

5Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

6Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands?

7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.

8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.

9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field.

10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes?

12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.

14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand.

15As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

16And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind?

17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness.

18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

19Every 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 labour; this is the gift of God.

20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.

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Historical context

For the first time in the book the speaker addresses a hearer directly as thou, giving instructions about the house of God, sacrifice, vows and an angel before whom one might plead error. The house of God is not named or located, and the angel is not identified; the text says only that a plea of error before the angel is to be avoided. The vow instructions are stated as rules, not tied to any occasion. Verse 8 speaks of oppression and perverted judgment in a province and of one higher than the highest who regards it, with others higher than they; the text does not say whether the highest regarder is God or a human ruler, and the chapter leaves the chain of authority unexplained. The king served by the field is a general statement, not a named king. The rich man who loses his riches by evil travail and leaves nothing for his son is a case the Preacher says he has seen, without name or place. The chapter ends by attributing riches, wealth, the power to enjoy them and the joy of the heart to God, so the contrast between the two rich men in verses 13 and 19 turns on whether God has given the power to eat, a point chapter 6 immediately takes up.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 5:1, Ecclesiastes 5:6, Ecclesiastes 5:4, Ecclesiastes 5:8, Ecclesiastes 5:9, Ecclesiastes 5:13, Ecclesiastes 5:19, Ecclesiastes 5:20

Literary context

The chapter divides into instruction and observation. The first seven verses are imperatives on restraint in speech before God, built on pairings of few and many: few words against a multitude of words, hearing against the sacrifice of fools, a vow paid against a vow unpaid. Verse 7 gathers dreams and many words into divers vanities and pivots to a single command, fear thou God. The second half returns to the Preacher's habit of seeing, and its images turn on eating and sleeping: goods increase and eaters increase, the labourer sleeps and the rich man cannot, the lost rich man eats in darkness while the man to whom God gives power eats and drinks with joy. The naked return to the womb answers the earlier line about riches kept to their owner's hurt, so that the whole middle passage runs from keeping to losing to carrying nothing away. The closing verses set good and comely against sore evil, using the same word, portion, that chapters 2 and 3 used for enjoyment in labour, and the last line replaces remembering one's days with being answered in joy.

Cited passages: Ecclesiastes 5:2, Ecclesiastes 5:3, Ecclesiastes 5:1, Ecclesiastes 5:7, Ecclesiastes 5:11, Ecclesiastes 5:12, Ecclesiastes 5:17, Ecclesiastes 5:15, Ecclesiastes 5:13, Ecclesiastes 5:18, Ecclesiastes 5:16, Ecclesiastes 5:20

Key moments

  1. Let thy words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:2). The hearer is told not to be rash before God, since God is in heaven and he is on earth.
  2. Pay what you vow (Ecclesiastes 5:4). A vow to God is to be paid without delay, since God has no pleasure in fools.
  3. Fear thou God (Ecclesiastes 5:7). Dreams and many words are called vanities, and the section ends in a single command.
  4. One higher than the highest (Ecclesiastes 5:8). Oppression in a province is not to be marvelled at, because a higher one regards it.
  5. Silver does not satisfy (Ecclesiastes 5:10). The lover of silver and the lover of abundance are not satisfied by increase.
  6. Naked as he came (Ecclesiastes 5:15). The man who lost his riches returns as he came from the womb, carrying nothing.
  7. Joy as God's answer (Ecclesiastes 5:19). Riches with the power to enjoy them are called the gift of God.

For reflection

The chapter says the labourer's sleep is sweet whether he eats little or much, and then says that riches with the power to enjoy them are God's gift. Where does the text locate the difference between the rich man kept awake and the man answered in the joy of his heart, in the amount he has or in something else?