| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1 Watch your step whenever you visit God's house, and come more ready to listen than to offer a fool's sacrifice, since fools never think they're doing evil. | 1 As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. |
| 2 Don't be impulsive with your mouth nor be in a hurry to talk in God's presence. Since God is in heaven and you're on earth, keep your speech short. | 2 Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few. |
| 3Too many worries lead to nightmares, and a fool is known from talking too much. | 3Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool. |
| 4When you make a promise to God, don't fail to keep it, since he isn't pleased with fools. Keep what you promise— | 4When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. |
| 5it's better that you don't promise than that you do promise and not follow through. | 5It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. |
| 6Never let your mouth cause you to sin and don't proclaim in the presence of the angel, "My promise was a mistake," for why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy what you've undertaken? | 6Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved. |
| 7In spite of many daydreams, pointless actions, and empty words, it is more important to fear God. | 7Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead. The Futility of Wealth |
| 8Don't be surprised when you see the poor oppressed and the violent perverting both justice and verdicts in a province, for one high official watches another, and there are ones higher still over them. | 8Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy. |
| 9Also, the increase of the land belongs to everyone; the king himself is served by his field. | 9Even the king milks the land for his own profit! |
| 10Whoever loves money will never have enough money. Whoever loves luxury will not be content with abundance. This also is pointless. | 10Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! |
| 11When possessions increase, so does the number of consumers; therefore what good are they to their owners, except to look at them? | 11The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! |
| 12Sweet is the sleep of a working man, whether he eats a little or a lot, but the excess wealth of the rich will not allow him to rest. | 12People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep. |
| 13I have observed a painful tragedy on earth: Wealth hoarded by its owner harms him, | 13There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. |
| 14and that wealth is lost in troubled circumstances. Then a son is born, but there is nothing left for him. | 14Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. |
| 15Just as he came naked from his mother's womb, he will leave as naked as he came; he will receive no profit from his efforts— he cannot carry away even a handful. | 15We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. |
| 16This is also a painful tragedy: However a person comes, he also departs; so what does he gain as he labors after the wind? | 16And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. |
| 17Furthermore, all his days he lives in darkness with great sorrow, anger, and affliction. | 17Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry. |
| 18Look! I observed that it is good and prudent to eat, drink, and enjoy all that is good of a person's work that he does on earth during the limited days of his life, which God gives him, for this is his allotment. | 18Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. |
| 19Furthermore, for every person to whom God has given wealth, riches, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept this allotment, and to rejoice in his work—this is a gift from God. | 19And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. |
| 20For he will not brood much over the days of his life, since God will keep him occupied with the joys of his heart. | 20God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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