Truyền Đạo 5

Let your words be few

¹Do not speak rashly, and do not let your heart be quick to say anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so keep your words few.^{a 2}As dreams come when there is much to do, so a fool’s voice comes with many words. ³When you make a vow to God, do not put off paying it, for he takes no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. ⁴It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not pay it. ⁵Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not tell the messenger, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?^{b 6}For when dreams and words are many, they are only a breath. Instead, fear God. ⁷If you see the poor oppressed in a province, and justice and right taken away by force, do not be surprised at it. One official watches over another, and still higher ones are over them both.^{c 8}Yet, for all that, a land gains from having a king who cares for its farmed fields.^{d 9}Whoever loves money never has enough money, and whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with what comes in. This too is a breath. ¹⁰When good things increase, so do those who consume them. And what does their owner get from them, except to look at them? ¹¹Workers sleep sweetly, whether they eat little or much, but the rich have so much that they cannot sleep. ¹²I have seen a painful misfortune under the sun: wealth hoarded by its owner to the owner’s own harm. ¹³Then that wealth is lost through some bad venture, and when he has a son, he has nothing left to give him. ¹⁴As he came from his mother’s womb, so he must go back, naked as he came. He will take nothing from all his hard work that he can carry in his hand. ¹⁵This too is a painful misfortune: just as he came, so he must go. And what does he gain from toiling for the wind? ¹⁶All his days he eats in darkness, with much vexation, sickness and anger. ¹⁷This is what I have seen to be good and fitting: for people to eat and drink and enjoy all their hard work under the sun during the few days of life God has given them, for that is their share. ¹⁸And whenever God grants people riches and property, and lets them eat from it, take up their share and be glad in their hard work, that is God’s gift. ¹⁹Such people will not dwell much on the days of their lives, because God keeps them busy with gladness of heart.^e