Think Before You Speak & Act |
Ecclesiastes 5:1-20 The Book of Ecclesiastes [in Smaller Chunks] |
Keep your foot when you [go into God's] house. [Proverbs 1:15-16 My sons, [don't] walk in the [road] with them. [Restrain] your foot from their path. Their feet run to evil & [hurry] to shed blood.] |
And be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they [don't] consider that they do evil. [1 Samuel 15:21-23 But the people took [from] the [plunder:] sheep, oxen & the [best] things, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal, which should have been [totally] destroyed. |
And Samuel said, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings & sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? [See,] to obey is better than sacrifice & to [pay attention] [is better] than the fat of rams. For rebellion is [like] the sin of witchcraft & stubbornness is [like] iniquity & idolatry, because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.] |
[Don't] be [impulsive] with your mouth & [don't] let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven & you are upon the earth. Therefore, let your words be few. [Matthew 6:7 But when you pray, [don't use vain repetitions, [like] the heathen do. For they think that they shall be heard for their speaking much.] |
For a dream comes [from] a multitude of busyness & a fool’s voice is known by [a] multitude of words. When you [make] a vow to God, [don't delay] to pay it; for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay [what] you have vowed. It is better that you [wouldn't] vow, than you [would] vow & not pay. |
[Don't allow] your mouth to cause you [body] to sin. Neither [shall] you say [in front of] the Angel, that it was an error. [Why] should God be angry [with] your [excuse] & destroy the work of your hands? For in the multitude of dreams & many words, there are also [various types of vanity:] but you [should] fear [respect] God. |
[Ephesians 4:17-18 Therefore, I say this & testify in the Lord, that you [from now on] not [follow like] other Gentiles [follow,] in the vanity of their mind, having [their] understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is [within] them, because of the blindness of their heart.] |
If in the province, you see the oppression of the poor & [the] violent: [diverting] judgment & justice, [don't] marvel at the matter. [Amos 5:12 For I know your [many & huge] sins. They afflict the just & they take a bribe & they turn the poor aside in the gate from [what is] their right.] |
[For He, [Who] is higher than the highest [kings] [pays attention] & there is higher than they [are.] [Ephesians 4:4-6 There is one body & one Spirit, even [like] you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God & Father of all, [Who] is above all & through all & in you all.] |
[Additionally, the benefit] of the earth is for all. The king, himself, is served by the field. He, [who] loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he [who] loves abundance [shall be satisfied] with increase. This is also vanity. When goods increase, [those, who] eat them are increased. And what good is [that] to the owners [of it, other than seeing] them with their eyes? |
The working [man’s] sleep is sweet, whether he [eats] little or much: but the abundance of the rich, won't [allow] [the rich person] to sleep. There is a [severe] evil, [that] I've seen under the sun, [specifically] riches, kept [for its] owners, to their [harm.] |
[Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 There is an evil, [that] I have seen under the sun & it's common among men. A man to whom God has given riches, wealth & honor, so that he [doesn't lack anything] for his soul, [or anything] he desires. Yet, God [doesn't] give him power to eat [of it,] but a stranger eats it. This is vanity & it's an evil disease.] |
But those riches perish by [misfortune] & he [fathers] a son & there is nothing in his hand. He shall go, [like] he came [from] his mother's womb, naked & shall take nothing [for] his [work,] which he may carry away in his hand. |
And this is also a [severe] evil, that in all [places] he shall go, [just like] he came. And what [benefit does] he, [who] has labored for the wind, have? Also, all his days, he eats in darkness & he has much sorrow & [anger] with his sickness. |
[Look, what] I have seen: it is good & [appealing] for [someone] to eat, drink & to enjoy the good of all his labor, that he [engages in] under the sun, all the days of his life, [that] God gives him, for it is his portion: [rewarded for all his labor.] |
Also, this is the gift of God: [to] every man, to whom God has given riches & wealth & has given him the power to eat [of it] & to rejoice in his labor & to take his portion: [rewarded for all his labor.] For he shall not remember much [from] the days of his life; because God [acknowledges] him [through] the joy [within] his heart. |