Ecclesiastes Chapter 5

Caution in words. Vows are to be paid. Riches are often pernicious: the moderate use of them is the gift of God.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 Speak not any thing rashly, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
2 Dreams follow many cares: and in many words shall be found folly.
3 If thou hast vowed any thing to God, defer not to pay it: for an unfaithful and foolish promise displeaseth him: but whatsoever thou hast vowed, pay it.
4 And it is much better not to vow, than after a vow not to perform the things promised.
5 Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.
6 Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities, and words without number: but do thou fear God.

7 If thou shalt see the oppressions of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice perverted in the province, wonder not at this matter: for he that is high hath another higher, and there are others still higher than these:
8 Moreover there is the king that reigneth over all the land subject to him.
9 A covetous man shall not be satisfied with money: and he that loveth riches shall reap no fruit from them: so this also is vanity.
10 Where there are great riches, there are also many to eat them. And what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?
11 Sleep is sweet to a labouring man, whether he eat little or much: but the fulness of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

12 There is also another grievous evil, which I have seen under the sun: riches kept to the hurt of the owner.
13 For they are lost with very great affliction: he hath begotten a son, who shall be in extremity of want.
14 As he came forth naked from his mother's womb, so shall he return, and shall take nothing away with him of his labour.
15 A most deplorable evil: as he came, so shall he return. What then doth it profit him that he hath laboured for the wind?
16 All the days of his life he eateth in darkness, and in many cares, and in misery, and sorrow.

17 This therefore hath seemed good to me, that a man should eat and drink, and enjoy the fruit of his labour, wherewith he hath laboured under the sun, all the days of his life, which God hath given him: and this is his portion.
18 And every man to whom God hath given riches, and substance, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to enjoy his portion, and to rejoice of his labour: this is the gift of God.
19 For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God entertaineth his heart with delight.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Ne temere quid loquaris,
neque cor tuum sit velox ad proferendum sermonem coram Deo.
Deus enim in cælo, et tu super terram;
idcirco sint pauci sermones tui.
2 Multas curas sequuntur somnia,
et in multis sermonibus invenietur stultitia.
3 Si quid vovisti Deo,
ne moreris reddere:
displicet enim ei infidelis et stulta promissio,
sed quodcumque voveris redde:
4 multoque melius est non vovere,
quam post votum promissa non reddere.
5 Ne dederis os tuum ut peccare facias carnem tuam,
neque dicas coram angelo:
Non est providentia:
ne forte iratus Deus contra sermones tuos
dissipet cuncta opera manuum tuarum.
6 Ubi multa sunt somnia,
plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri;
tu vero Deum time.

7 Si videris calumnias egenorum, et violenta judicia,
et subverti justitiam in provincia,
non mireris super hoc negotio:
quia excelso excelsior est alius,
et super hos quoque eminentiores sunt alii;
8 et insuper universæ terræ rex imperat servienti.
9 Avarus non implebitur pecunia,
et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis;
et hoc ergo vanitas.
10 Ubi multæ sunt opes,
multi et qui comedunt eas.
Et quid prodest possessori,
nisi quod cernit divitias oculis suis?
11 Dulcis est somnus operanti,
sive parum sive multum comedat;
saturitas autem divitis non sinit eum dormire.

12 Est et alia infirmitas pessima quam vidi sub sole:
divitiæ conservatæ in malum domini sui.
13 Pereunt enim in afflictione pessima:
generavit filium qui in summa egestate erit.
14 Sicut egressus est nudus de utero matris suæ, sic revertetur,
et nihil auferet secum de labore suo.
15 Miserabilis prorsus infirmitas:
quomodo venit, sic revertetur.
Quid ergo prodest ei quod laboravit in ventum?
16 cunctis diebus vitæ suæ comedit in tenebris,
et in curis multis, et in ærumna atque tristitia.

17 Hoc itaque visum est mihi bonum,
ut comedat quis et bibat,
et fruatur lætitia ex labore suo
quo laboravit ipse sub sole,
numero dierum vitæ suæ
quos dedit ei Deus;
et hæc est pars illius.
18 Et omni homini cui dedit Deus divitias atque substantiam,
potestatemque ei tribuit ut comedat ex eis,
et fruatur parte sua, et lætetur de labore suo:
hoc est donum Dei.
19 Non enim satis recordabitur dierum vitæ suæ,
eo quod Deus occupet deliciis cor ejus.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition