When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. | 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. |
He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. | Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! |
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When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? | 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! |
As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. | 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. |
Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. | 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. |
Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. | 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. |