Ecclesiastes 5

The Teacher first warns about how we approach God: listen more than you talk, and keep every promise you make. He then looks at injustice and the empty chase for money, which never satisfies and cannot be carried out of this life. He ends by pointing to a quiet answer: receive daily work, food and joy as gifts from God.

Ecclesiastes 5:1

Worship is serious business. Before you step into God’s house, watch where your heart is. The wise person comes ready to listen and obey. The fool brings sacrifices while living carelessly, and does not even realize he is doing wrong.

BSA: listen (“hear and obey, give attention”): Real listening to God means taking in his word and then doing it. Guard (“be careful, watch your way”): Worship calls for care about how we walk, not only about what we offer.

Hebrew: שְׁמֹר (shemor, H8104) — “guard, keep watch over.” This is the word used for guarding something precious. Our approach to God deserves that kind of watchful care.

See also: 1 Samuel 15:22.

Ecclesiastes 5:2

Do not rush into speech before God, or make promises without thinking. God is in heaven and we are on earth, so he is far greater than we are. Few, thoughtful words show proper respect for who he is.

BSA: hasty (“quick”): A heart that rushes ahead of thought will let words slip out that it later regrets. few (“limited, restrained”): Restrained speech comes from knowing whom you are addressing.

See also: James 1:19.

Ecclesiastes 5:3

Just as a restless mind crowded with worries produces dreams, a fool’s talk runs on and on. The more words, the more foolishness shows. Plain, few words are a mark of wisdom.

BSA: dream (“coming from an abundance of business, through many cares”): Busy cares fill the mind with dreams, just as a foolish heart fills the air with talk.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

A vow is a promise made to God, and he expects it kept without delay. He takes no pleasure in fools who promise and then forget. It is better to make no vow than to make one and break it.

BSA: vow (“promise, solemn oath”): A vow was a serious, binding promise made to God, not a passing remark. delay (“defer, put off”): Putting off a promise is the first step toward breaking it.

See also: Deuteronomy 23:21-23; Matthew 5:37.

Ecclesiastes 5:6

Careless words can lead the whole person into sin. Do not tell the temple messenger that your vow was a mistake, as if excusing yourself. God hears, and he can be angry at such words and undo what you have worked for.

BSA: messenger (“or priest, one who speaks on God’s behalf”): The one who received vows stood in God’s place, so excusing yourself to him meant excusing yourself to God. mistake (“an error, a wrong decision”): Calling a vow an error was a way of dodging a promise you had freely made.

Ecclesiastes 5:7

Dreams and endless words both lead to nothing. Empty talk before God achieves nothing. The answer is simple: fear God. That means honoring him, taking him seriously and speaking with care.

BSA: fear (“revere, have awe for”): This fear is deep respect and awe before God, not terror.

See also: Proverbs 1:7.

Ecclesiastes 5:8

Do not be shocked when the poor are crushed and justice is twisted. In a chain of officials, each one answers to someone above, and corruption runs through the layers. Yet this also hints that the highest Authority sees everything.

BSA: oppression (“cruel treatment, violent perversion”): The poor were being treated with force and cruelty, not merely overlooked. watched (“eyed, supervised”): Each official is under another’s eye, yet the watching does not always produce justice.

See also: Psalm 82:3-4.

Ecclesiastes 5:9

The land feeds everyone, and even the king depends on its fields. This verse is hard to translate exactly, but its point is that all, rich and powerful included, live from the same earth God provides.

BSA: produce (“crops, income, revenue”): The harvest is the common source of everyone’s living, king included.

Ecclesiastes 5:10

Love of money can never be satisfied. Each gain only makes a person want more. The Teacher calls this futile, because money cannot answer the deepest longing of the heart.

BSA: loves (“is passionately devoted to”): The problem is not having money but being devoted to it. satisfied (“content, at peace”): Money cannot give the inner peace that people hope it will.

Hebrew: הֶבֶל (hevel, H1892) — “breath, vapor.” The word translated futile is literally a puff of breath. It pictures something that looks real but cannot be grasped or held.

See also: 1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5.

Ecclesiastes 5:11

As a person’s income grows, so do the people who live off it: servants, relatives, hangers-on. The owner gets little more than the pleasure of looking at it all. Wealth tends to be spread around by others.

BSA: consume (“eat and devour”): More goods draw more mouths to eat them. behold (“see and gaze upon”): The owner is left merely looking at what others enjoy.

Ecclesiastes 5:12

The laborer sleeps well, whether his meal is small or large, because his work is honest and his mind is quiet. The rich man’s abundance brings worry, and it keeps him awake. Peace of mind is worth more than a full storehouse.

BSA: sweet (“pleasant, delightful”): Rest after honest work is a simple pleasure that wealth cannot buy. permits (“allows, enables”): His wealth will not allow him the rest it was supposed to buy.

See also: Psalm 127:2.

Ecclesiastes 5:13-14

The Teacher describes a painful sight. Riches are held so tightly that they harm their owner, or they are lost in a bad venture. Then a man’s son inherits nothing. Wealth is never a safe place to rest.

BSA: hoarded (“kept, saved”): Saving up out of fear or greed can itself become the owner’s ruin. failed venture (“bad investments, evil adventure”): A single bad business turn can wipe out everything gathered over years.

Ecclesiastes 5:15-16

We arrive in the world with empty hands and leave the same way. Nothing earned in a lifetime of labor goes with us. To toil for the wind means working for something that cannot be held.

BSA: naked (“without possessions”): Birth and death both strip us of everything we have gathered. wind (“in vain, without lasting result”): Chasing wealth is like trying to catch the wind: it leaves nothing in your hand.

See also: Job 1:21; 1 Timothy 6:7.

Ecclesiastes 5:17

The one who lives only for gain spends his days in gloom. He is anxious, often ill and often angry. A life given wholly to getting more has little real joy in it.

BSA: darkness (“shadow, gloom”): He eats his meals without light or gladness, because worry has crowded out enjoyment.

Ecclesiastes 5:18

Now the Teacher gives something that is truly good: to eat, drink and find satisfaction in your work during the short life God gives. Our daily portion, received with thanks, is what God has assigned to us.

BSA: lot (“portion, inheritance”): Our daily share of life is something God has handed us, like an inheritance. satisfaction (“genuine”): He means real contentment, not a passing pleasure.

Hebrew: חֵלֶק (cheleq, H2506) — “portion, share.” This word was used for a share of land or inheritance. Our work and daily bread are pictured as a portion handed to us by God.

See also: 1 Timothy 6:17.

Ecclesiastes 5:19

Wealth and the ability to enjoy it both come from God. When he gives the power to receive your portion and rejoice in your work, that is a gift. Enjoyment itself is not earned. It is given.

BSA: enabled (“given power to, allowed”): Being able to enjoy what you have is a separate gift from having it. gift (“blessing, gracious bestowal”): Joy in work and possessions is something God graciously bestows.

See also: James 1:17.

Ecclesiastes 5:20

The person who receives life as God’s gift does not brood over how quickly the days pass. God fills his heart with gladness and keeps him occupied with it. The brevity of life no longer weighs him down.

BSA: occupied (“busy, preoccupied”): God keeps the heart engaged with joy, so there is little room left for gloomy brooding. joy (“delight, happiness”): This gladness is itself something God gives to the heart.