Ecclesiastes 5

Matthew(i) 1 When thou commest into the house of God, kepe thy fote & draw nye, that thou mayest heare: that is better then the offeringes of fooles, for they knowe not what euell they do. 2 Be not hasty with thy mouth, & let not thyne herte speake any thyng rashly before God. For God is in heauen, & thou vpon earth, therfore let thy wordes be few. 3 For where muche carefulnesse is, there are many dreames: and where many wordes are, there men may heare fooles. 4 If thou make a vowe vnto God, be not slacke to perfourme it. As for folish vowes, he hath no pleasure in them. 5 If thou promise any thynge, paye it: for better it is that thou make no vowe then that thou shouldest promyse, and not paye. 6 Vse not thy mouth to cause thy flesh for to synne, that thou say not before the aungell: my foolishnesse is in the faute. For then God will be angry at thy voyce, & destroye all the workes of thyne handes. 7 And why? where as are many dreames and many wordes, there are also diuerse vanities: but loke that thou feare God. 8 If thou seyst the poore to be oppressed and wrongeously dealt withall, so that equite & the right of the law is wrasted in the lande: maruell not thou at such iudgement, for one great man kepeth touch with another, and the mightye helpe them selfes together. 9 The whole lande also with the feldes and all that is therin, is in subiection & bondage vnto the kyng. 10 He that loueth money, will neuer be satisfied wyth money: and who so deliteth in ryches, shall haue no profit therof. Is not this also a vayn thyng? 11 Where as much ryches is, there are many also that spende them away. And what pleasure more hath he that possesseth them, sauyng that he may loke vpon them with hys eyes? 12 A labouryng man slepeth swetely, whether it be litle or much that he eateth: but the aboundaunce of the ryche wil not suffre him to slepe. 13 Yet is there a sore plague, whiche I haue sene vnder the sunne (namely) ryches kept to the hurt of him that hath them in possession. 14 For oft tymes they perishe with his greate misery & trouble: and if he haue a chylde, it getteth nothynge. 15 Lyke as he came naked out of his mothers wombe, so goeth he thyther agayn, and carieth nothing away with hym of all his labour. 16 This is a miserable plage, that he shal go away euen as he came. What helpeth it hym then, that he hath labored in the wynde? 17 All the dayes of his life also muste he eate in the darke, with greate carefulnesse, syckenesse and sorowe. 18 Therefore me thincke it a better and a fayrer thinge a manne to eate and dryncke, and to be refreshied of all hys laboure, that he taketh vnder the Sunne all the dayes of hys lyfe which God geueth hym, for this is hys porcyon. 19 For vnto whom soeuer God geueth ritches, goodes and power, he geueth it him to enioy it, to take it for hys porcyon, and to be refreshed of his laboure: thys is nowe the gyfte of God. 20 For he thyncketh not muche how longe he shall lyue, for so much as God fylleth his herte with gladnesse.