| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. | 1 As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. |
| 2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. | 2 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. |
| 3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. | 3Too much activity gives you restless dreams; too many words make you a fool. |
| 4When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. | 4When 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. |
| 5Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. | 5It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. |
| 6Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? | 6Don’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. |
| 7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. | 7Talk is cheap, like daydreams and other useless activities. Fear God instead. The Futility of Wealth |
| 8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. | 8Don’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. |
| 9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. | 9Even the king milks the land for his own profit! |
| 10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. | 10Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! |
| 11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? | 11The 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! |
| 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. | 12People who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much. But the rich seldom get a good night’s sleep. |
| 13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. | 13There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. |
| 14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. | 14Money 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. |
| 15As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. | 15We 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. |
| 16And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? | 16And 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. |
| 17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. | 17Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry. |
| 18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. | 18Even 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. |
| 19Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. | 19And 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. |
| 20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. | 20God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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