Caution in God’s Presence
1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Better to approach in obedience than to offer the sacrifice as fools do, q for they ignorantly do wrong. 2 Do not be hasty to speak, and do not be impulsive to make a speech before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. r 3 Just as dreams accompany much labor, so also a fool’s voice comes with many words. s 4 When you make a vow to God, t don’t delay fulfilling it, because he does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow. 5 Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it. u 6 Do not let your mouth bring guilt on you, v and do not say in the presence of the messenger that it was a mistake. w Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands? 7 For many dreams bring futility, so do many words. x Therefore, fear God.
The Realities of Wealth
8 If you see oppression of the poor y and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don’t be astonished at the situation, z because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them. 9 The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field. ,a
10 The one who loves silver is never satisfied with silver, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income. This too is futile. 11 When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes? 12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich permits him no sleep.
13 There is a sickening tragedy I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. b 14 That wealth was lost in a bad venture, so when he fathered a son, he was empty-handed. 15 As he came from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came; c he will take nothing for his efforts that he can carry in his hands. 16 This too is a sickening tragedy: exactly as he comes, so he will go. What does the one gain d who struggles for the wind? e 17 What is more, he eats in darkness all his days, f with much frustration, sickness, and anger.
18 Here is what I have seen to be good: g It is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward. h 19 Furthermore, everyone to whom God has given riches and wealth, i he has also allowed him to enjoy them, take his reward, and rejoice in his labor. j This is a gift of God, k 20 for he does not often consider the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
5:1–3. The author cautions the reader to exercise restraint in various worship activities, particularly while making vows that involve subsequent voluntary offerings. The occasion is not specified, although vows in the OT often involve leveraging divine protection and favor (e.g., Gn 28:20–22; Jdg 11:30–31; 1 Sm 1:11; 2 Sm 15:7–8; Wisdom literature seldom addresses such matters). This section is framed by positive charges (5:1, 7), while four negative admonitions dominate verses 2–6. One should go to the temple to listen to God rather than to tell him something. Otherwise, you will “offer the sacrifice as fools do” (5:1), probably by saying too much before God (5:2–3, 7). Folly in the OT is a moral category with a cognitive dimension: ignorance leading to wrongdoing.
5:4–7. Ecclesiastes 5:4–6 is verbally dependent on the Mosaic legislation in Dt 23:21–23 regulating vows. A shocking sequence of consequences can follow a voluntary but legally binding rash pledge: divine displeasure (5:4), sin, divine wrath, and divine judgment (5:6). Telling the temple messenger who comes to collect the promised sacrifice (cf. Mal 1:13–14) that such a vow was “a mistake” (cf. 10:5; Nm 15:25) is an attempt to downplay it as an inadvertent sin. Such an excuse is excluded by this explicit warning, and a deep reverence for God (5:7b) will avert such a disaster (cf. Lv 19:5–8).
5:8–9. Ecclesiastes 5:8 again takes up the theme of injustice and oppression (cf. 3:16; 4:1). Upon observing the blatant deprivation of human rights, one should not be stunned by this situation. The reason for this admonition, that “one official protects another official,” could be taken positively as pointing to the benefits of hierarchical levels of jurisdiction: “Do not be upset—other officials are keeping an eye on the situation!” Or, more cynically, it could be understood as retorting, “What do you expect, when every bureaucrat is protecting another?”
5:10–12. The introduction begins with a proverb: whoever loves money (and lots of it) will never find lasting satisfaction therein (5:10). This is because with an increase in one’s goods comes an increase in those who consume them (5:11a). As a result, the owner watches wealth vanish, with minimal personal benefit (5:11b). Furthermore, wealth can deprive its owner of sleep (cf. 2:23; 8:16), whether due to overeating or the fear of a sudden financial reversal. Such problems do not plague the simple laborer (5:12).
5:13–17. The first scenario continues this negative portrayal, offering minimal details and thus facilitating a broader application. Hoarded wealth can harm its owner, perhaps by distorting values and lifestyle, leading either to decadence or to miserly self-deprivation (5:13). Ecclesiastes 5:17 along with 4:8 may support the latter interpretation, in describing life as lived “in darkness” (contrasted with light in 2:13; 11:7–8), plagued by psychological, physical, and emotional pain (cf. 2:23). Wealth can also be lost quickly (5:14a). Having lost all, this person is bereft of possessions (“naked”; cf. Jb 1:21) as at birth and “empty-handed,” despite strenuous labor, with nothing to pass on to an heir (5:14b–15). This leads the author to a related thought, a second “sickening tragedy” (5:16a; cf. 5:13), namely, that all individuals end up departing as “naked” as when they arrived in this world. They can achieve no lasting “gain,” since they are, in effect, toiling “for the wind” (5:16b).
5:18–20. The second scenario stands in stark contrast to the empty existence just sketched. It describes wealth enjoyed through divine enablement; God is mentioned four times in these verses. For the fourth time in the book, to eat, drink, and “experience good” in one’s work during this brief life is commended (5:18). God’s gift extends beyond wealth and possessions to the ability to enjoy life and to avoid focusing on the brevity and difficulties of life (5:19–20). The closing claim that “God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart” (5:20) is a strong affirmation of the value of life, despite everything.