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The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 5 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Approaching God with Care

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:1 - [fn]As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:2 - [fn]Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:3 - Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:4 - When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:5 - It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:6 - Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:7 - Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead.
The Futility of Wealth

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:8 - Don’t be surprised if you see a poor person being oppressed by the powerful and if justice is being miscarried throughout the land. For every official is under orders from higher up, and matters of justice get lost in red tape and bureaucracy.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:9 - Even the king milks the land for his own profit![fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:10 - Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:11 - The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers!

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:12 - People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:13 - There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:14 - Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:15 - We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:16 - And this, too, is a very serious problem. People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:17 - Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:18 - Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:19

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:19 - And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 5:20

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 5:20 - God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past.
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Verse 5:1 is numbered 4:17 in Hebrew text.
Verses 5:2-20 are numbered 5:1-19 in Hebrew text.
The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 8 and 9 is uncertain.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras