1Watch your steps when you go to the house of God. It is better to go and listen than to offer the foolish sacrifices of those who don't even realize they are doing wrong.
2Don't speak carelessly or be too quick to make promises to God, because God is in heaven and you are on earth. So, speak few words.
3For just as many worries can lead to dreams, so a fool's talk comes with many words.
4When you make a promise to God, don't delay in keeping it, because he doesn't like fools. Keep the promises you make.
5It is better not to make a promise than to make one and not keep it.
6Don't let your words cause you to sin. Don't tell the temple messenger that your promise was a mistake. Why should God get angry at what you say and destroy what you have worked for?
7Just as many dreams are meaningless, so are many words. Instead, you should fear God.
8If you see the poor being oppressed and justice and fairness being denied in a district, don't be surprised. For one official is watched by a higher one, and there are even higher officials above them.
9Furthermore, the produce of the land is for everyone, and even the king benefits from the fields.
10Those who love money will never have enough, nor will those who love wealth be satisfied with what they gain. This, too, is pointless.
11When possessions increase, so do the people who consume them. What good does it do the owner, except to look at them?
12A hard worker sleeps soundly, whether they eat little or much, but the abundance of the rich keeps them from sleeping.
13There is a terrible evil I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to their own harm.
14Those riches are lost through bad investments, and if that person has a child, there is nothing left for them.
15Just as he came naked from his mother's womb, he will leave again as he came. He can't take anything he worked for with him.
16This is also a terrible wrong: he leaves exactly as he arrived. What benefit does he get from working so hard for nothing?
17Throughout his life, he eats in darkness, frustrated, sick, and angry.
18I've seen that it is good and proper for people to eat and drink and enjoy the good things from all their hard work under the sun during the life God has given them, because that is their reward.
19Also, for anyone to whom God gives riches and wealth, and also gives them the ability to enjoy it, to take their share, and to be happy in their work—this is a gift from God.
20They won't spend much time thinking about how short their life is, because God keeps them happy in their heart.