Wisdom · Chapter 5 of 12
Ecclesiastes 5
The Preacher turns to worship and wealth. Before God, guard your steps and your speech: be quick to hear, slow to speak, and let your words be few, for God is in heaven and you on earth. Keep your vows. He then exposes the futility of loving money, which never satisfies, robs sleep, and cannot be carried into death. He concludes that enjoying one's labor and portion is the gift of God.
What happens in Ecclesiastes 5
The chapter opens with reverence in worship: guard your foot at the house of God, be more ready to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools, and do not be rash with your mouth, for God is in heaven and you upon earth, so let your words be few. It stresses paying vows promptly, since it is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. The Preacher then turns to wealth, counseling not to marvel at oppression in a province, since God oversees it.
He exposes the emptiness of loving silver, which never satisfies, and notes that increasing goods only multiplies those who consume them. The laborer sleeps sweetly while abundance robs the rich of rest. Riches hoarded harm their owners, perish in misfortune, and cannot be carried out of the world. He concludes that eating, drinking, and enjoying one's labor is a gift of God, filling the days with joy.
Ecclesiastes 5 in context
Set within Ecclesiastes' wider search under the sun, this chapter pairs reverent worship with sober reflection on money. Its counsel to speak few words before God and pay vows reflects Israel's temple piety, where careless religion was a real danger.
Its critique of wealth that never satisfies and cannot cross the grave echoes the book's refrain, while its closing note lifts simple, God-given enjoyment as the true portion of a life lived before God.
Main themes of Ecclesiastes 5
Ecclesiastes 5 (KJV)
1Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. 2Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. 3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. 4When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. 5Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. 6Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? 7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. 8If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. 9Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. 10He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 11When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 12The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. 13There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. 14But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. 15As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. 16And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? 17All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. 18Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. 19Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. 20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
Verses to carry from Ecclesiastes 5
“Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”Ecclesiastes 5:2
“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.”Ecclesiastes 5:10
“Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.”Ecclesiastes 5:18
Thematic connection
How Ecclesiastes 5 points to Jesus
The counsel to let your words be few before God, who is in heaven, is echoed by Jesus, who taught His disciples not to heap up empty phrases like those who think they will be heard for many words, since the Father knows our need before we ask. The Preacher's warning that money never satisfies and cannot cross the grave is deepened by Christ, who asked what it profits to gain the whole world yet lose one's soul and warned that no one can serve both God and wealth.
His teaching to seek treasure in heaven answers riches that perish. This is a thematic connection: the chapter's reverent, few-worded worship and its exposure of money as an unsatisfying idol are taken up and fulfilled in the teaching of Jesus, who redirects the heart from earthly treasure to God Himself.
Questions about Ecclesiastes 5
Why should our words before God be few?
Verse two grounds restraint in reverence: God is in heaven and we are on earth, so careless, rushing speech betrays a failure to grasp who He is. It warns against the sacrifice of fools, empty religion that talks much and hears little. Jesus taught the same, urging simple, sincere prayer rather than heaped-up phrases. Few, thoughtful words honor God's majesty and reflect a heart that listens before it speaks.
What is wrong with loving money according to this chapter?
Verses ten through fifteen expose money's broken promises. It never satisfies the one who loves it, its increase only multiplies consumers, its abundance steals sleep, it can be hoarded to the owner's harm, and it cannot be carried through death. The love of wealth is an idol that fails at every point. The chapter does not condemn provision but the craving that trusts riches for what only God can give, and Jesus warns the same.
Reflection
Examine your worship: do you rush into God's presence with many words, or come ready to hear with few. Consider your relationship to money and whether the craving for more is stealing your rest and satisfaction. Receive today's food, work, and joys as gifts of God rather than trusting in what cannot cross the grave.
A prayer from Ecclesiastes 5
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