Approaching God with Fear 1 WBS Keep 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. BSB BSB: Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
2 WBS Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. BSB BSB: Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.
3 WBS For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. BSB BSB: As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
4 WBS When thou vowest a vow to God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. BSB BSB: When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.
5 WBS Better is it that thou shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and not pay. BSB BSB: It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.
6 WBS Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands? BSB BSB: Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?
7 WBS For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. BSB BSB: For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.
The Futility of Wealth (Psalm 49:1–20)
8 WBS If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perversion of judgment and justice in a province, wonder not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there are higher than they. BSB BSB: If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.
9 WBS Moreover, the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. BSB BSB: The produce of the earth is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.
10 WBS He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. BSB BSB: He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.
11 WBS When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners of them, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? BSB BSB: When good things increase, so do those who consume them; what then is the profit to the owner, except to behold them with his eyes?
12 WBS The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eateth little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. BSB BSB: The sleep of the worker is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich man permits him no sleep.
13 WBS There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, namely , riches kept for the owners of them to their hurt. BSB BSB: There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,
14 WBS But those riches perish by evil labor: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. BSB BSB: or wealth lost in a failed venture, so when that man has a son there is nothing to pass on.
15 WBS As he came into the world, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. BSB BSB: As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
16 WBS And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath labored for the wind? BSB BSB: This too is a grievous affliction: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind?
17 WBS All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. BSB BSB: Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.
18 WBS 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 labor that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. BSB BSB: Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot.
19 WBS Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God. BSB BSB: Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God.
20 WBS For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. BSB BSB: For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.