1 Watch your feet when you go to the house of God; to come near to listen is better than the sacrifice fools offer, for they do not know that they do wrong.
2 Do not be hasty with your mouth, and let not your heart rush to utter a word before God; for God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
3 For a dream comes from a great deal of business, and a fool's voice from a great many words.
4 When you vow a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools; pay what you vow.
5 Better not to vow at all than to vow and not pay.
6 Do not let your mouth lead your flesh into sin, and do not tell the messenger that it was an error. Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?
7 For with many dreams come vanities and words in plenty; but as for you, fear God.
8 If in a province you see the poor oppressed and justice and righteousness taken away by force, do not be amazed at it; for one official is watched by a higher one, and still higher ones are over them both.
9 And the produce of the land is for everyone; even the king is served from the field.
10 Whoever loves money will never have his fill of money, nor whoever loves wealth his fill of gain. This too is vanity.
11 As goods multiply, so do those who consume them; and what benefit are they to their owner, but to feast his eyes on them?
12 The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man will not let him sleep.
13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded by its owner to his own hurt.
14 That wealth is lost through some misfortune, and he has a son, but there is nothing left in his hand.
15 As he came from his mother's womb, so he will go again, naked as he came, and he will take nothing for his labor that he can carry away in his hand.
16 This too is a grievous evil: just as he came, so he will go. And what does he gain, he who labors for the wind?
17 Besides, all his days he eats in darkness, with much vexation, sickness and resentment.
18 See, this is what I have found good and fitting: to eat and drink and enjoy the good of all the labor one labors at under the sun during the few days of life God has given him, for that is his lot.
19 Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions and the power to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be glad in his labor, this is God's gift.
20 For he will not dwell much on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.