Lockman - Bible questions and answers

		Eccl 5:1 Guard your steps and focus on what you are doing as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the [careless or irreverent] sacrifice of fools; for they are too ignorant to know they are doing evil. [Gen 35:1-4; Ex 3:5]
		Eccl 5:2 Do not be hasty with your mouth [speaking careless words or vows] or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few.
		Eccl 5:3 For the dream comes through much effort, and the voice of the fool through many words.
		Eccl 5:4 ¶ When you make a vow or a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God takes no pleasure in fools [who thoughtlessly mock Him]. Pay what you vow. [Ps 50:14; 66:13, 14; 76:11]
		Eccl 5:5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. [Prov 20:25; Acts 5:4]
		Eccl 5:6 Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands? [Mal 2:7]
		Eccl 5:7 For in a multitude of dreams and in a flood of words there is worthlessness. Rather [reverently] fear God [and worship Him with awe-filled respect, knowing who He is].
		Eccl 5:8 ¶ If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight [of corruption]; for a higher official watches over another official, and there are higher ones over them [looking out for one another].
		Eccl 5:9 After all, a king who cultivates the field is an advantage to the land.
		Eccl 5:10 ¶ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its gain. This too is vanity (emptiness).
		Eccl 5:11 When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what advantage is there to their owners except to see them with their eyes?
		Eccl 5:12 The sleep of a working man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach (greed) of the rich [who hungers for even more] will not let him sleep.
		Eccl 5:13 ¶ There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: riches being kept and hoarded by their owner to his own misery.
		Eccl 5:14 For when those riches are lost in bad investments and he becomes the father of a son, then there is nothing in his hand [for the support of the child].
		Eccl 5:15 As he came naked from his mother's womb, so he will return as he came; and he will take away nothing from all his labor that he can carry in his hand. [Job 1:21; 1 Tim 6:7]
		Eccl 5:16 This also is a grievous evil--exactly as he was born, so he shall die. So what advantage has he who labors for the wind? [1 Tim 6:6]
		Eccl 5:17 All of his life he also eats in darkness [cheerlessly, without sweetness and light], with great frustration, sickness, and anger.
		Eccl 5:18 ¶ Behold, here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in all the labor in which he labors under the sun during the few days of his life which God gives him--for this is his [allotted] reward. [1 Tim 6:17]
		Eccl 5:19 Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, He has also given the power and ability to enjoy them and to receive [this as] his [allotted] portion and to rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God [to him].
		Eccl 5:20 For he will not often consider the [troubled] days of his life, because God keeps him occupied and focused on the joy of his heart [and the tranquility of God indwells him].

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