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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Ecclesiastes 5 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ecclesiastes/5.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/ecclesiastes/5-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Ecclesiastes 5</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ecclesiastes/4.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 4">◄</a> Ecclesiastes 5 <a href="../ecclesiastes/6.htm" title="Ecclesiastes 6">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Don't Make Rash Promises</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_1"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.1" class="v21_5_1">1</span>Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don't know right from wrong. </span><span class="v21_5_2"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.2" class="v21_5_2">2</span>Think before you speak, and don't make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don't say any more than you have to. </span><span class="v21_5_3"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.3" class="v21_5_3">3</span>The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish. </span><span class="v21_5_4"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.4" class="v21_5_4">4</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.5.4!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> So when you make a promise to God, keep it as quickly as possible. He has no use for a fool. Do what you promise to do. </span><span class="v21_5_5"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.5" class="v21_5_5">5</span>Better not to promise at all than to make a promise and not keep it. </span><span class="v21_5_6"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.6" class="v21_5_6">6</span>Don't let your own words lead you into sin, so that you have to tell God's priest that you didn't mean it. Why make God angry with you? Why let him destroy what you have worked for? </span><span class="v21_5_7"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.7" class="v21_5_7">7</span>No matter how much you dream, how much useless work you do, or how much you talk, you must still stand in awe of God.</span></p><h3 class="s">Life Is Useless</h3><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_8"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.8" class="v21_5_8">8</span>Don't be surprised when you see that the government oppresses the poor and denies them justice and their rights. Every official is protected by someone higher, and both are protected by still higher officials.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_9"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.9" class="v21_5_9">9</span>Even a king depends on the harvest.<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.5.9!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_10"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.10" class="v21_5_10">10</span>If you love money, you will never be satisfied; if you long to be rich, you will never get all you want. It is useless. </span><span class="v21_5_11"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.11" class="v21_5_11">11</span>The richer you are, the more mouths you have to feed. All you gain is the knowledge that you are rich. </span><span class="v21_5_12"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.12" class="v21_5_12">12</span>Workers may or may not have enough to eat, but at least they can get a good night's sleep. The rich, however, have so much that they stay awake worrying.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_13"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.13" class="v21_5_13">13</span>Here is a terrible thing that I have seen in this world: people save up their money for a time when they may need it,<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.5.13!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v21_5_14"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.14" class="v21_5_14">14</span>and then lose it all in some bad deal and end up with nothing left to pass on to their children. </span><span class="v21_5_15"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.15" class="v21_5_15">15</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.5.15!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> We leave this world just as we entered it—with nothing. In spite of all our work there is nothing we can take with us. </span><span class="v21_5_16"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.16" class="v21_5_16">16</span>It isn't right! We go just as we came. We labor, trying to catch the wind, and what do we get? </span><span class="v21_5_17"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.17" class="v21_5_17">17</span>We get to live our lives in darkness and grief,<a href="#fn" id="link_Eccl.5.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> worried, angry, and sick.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v21_5_18"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.18" class="v21_5_18">18</span>Here is what I have found out: the best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for during the short life that God has given us; this is our fate. </span><span class="v21_5_19"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.19" class="v21_5_19">19</span>If God gives us wealth and property and lets us enjoy them, we should be grateful and enjoy what we have worked for. It is a gift from God. </span><span class="v21_5_20"><span class="reftext" id="Eccl.5.20" class="v21_5_20">20</span>Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.9: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Verse 9 in Hebrew is unclear.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.13: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">for … it; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">to their own hurt.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">5.17: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Some ancient translations </char><char style="fq" closed="false">in darkness and grief; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">eating in darkness.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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