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Ecclesiastes

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Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil. See also: James 1:19 Hebrews 12:28-29 Proverbs 15:8Don’t be rash with your mouth, and don’t let your heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and you on earth. Therefore let your words be few. See also: Matthew 6:7 Proverbs 10:19 Isaiah 55:9For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words. See also: Proverbs 15:2 Ecclesiastes 10:12-14 Proverbs 10:19When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow. See also: Numbers 30:2 Deuteronomy 23:21-23 Psalms 76:11It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay. See also: Acts 5:4 Deuteronomy 23:22 Proverbs 20:25Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin. Don’t protest before the messenger that this was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice, and destroy the work of your hands? See also: James 1:26 2 John 1:8 James 3:2For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, as well as in many words; but you must fear God. See also: Matthew 12:36 Ecclesiastes 12:13 Ecclesiastes 8:12If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them. See also: Psalms 12:5 Ecclesiastes 4:1 Ecclesiastes 3:16Moreover the profit of the earth is for all. The king profits from the field. See also: Psalms 115:16 1 Kings 4:7-23 Genesis 1:29-30He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. See also: 1 Timothy 6:10 Matthew 6:24 Luke 12:15When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes? See also: 1 John 2:16 Habakkuk 2:13 Psalms 119:36-37The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not allow him to sleep. See also: Proverbs 3:24 Psalms 4:8 Jeremiah 31:26There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm. See also: Ecclesiastes 6:1-2 Luke 18:22-23 Luke 16:22-23Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand. See also: Ecclesiastes 2:26 Job 5:5 Proverbs 23:5As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. See also: Job 1:21 Psalms 49:17 1 Timothy 6:7This also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit does he have who labors for the wind? See also: Ecclesiastes 1:3 Proverbs 11:29 Mark 8:36All his days he also eats in darkness, he is frustrated, and has sickness and wrath. See also: Psalms 127:2 Psalms 78:33 1 Corinthians 11:30-32Behold, that which I have seen to be good and proper is for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor, in which he labors under the sun, all the days of his life which God has given him; for this is his portion. See also: Ecclesiastes 2:24 Ecclesiastes 3:22 Ecclesiastes 3:12-13Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God. See also: Deuteronomy 8:18 Ecclesiastes 3:13 Ecclesiastes 6:2For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life, because God occupies him with the joy of his heart. See also: Isaiah 65:13-14 Psalms 37:16 Isaiah 65:21-24

See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)15 notes

Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.

These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity

Ecclesiastes 5:1

Ver. 1. Few. As none can arrive at the perfect knowledge of God, they should be reserved in speaking of Him. W. --- De Deo etiam vera loqui periculosum.

Cic. de Nat. --- In prayer, (C.) we must not pretend to give him any information, like the heathens. Matt. vi. 7. H.

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Ecclesiastes 5:2

Ver. 2. Folly. Under anxiety a person is naturally disturbed with dreams, in which some true ideas may present themselves; in like manner, as a great talker will say some things respecting God, which may not be reprehensible, though the greatest part of his discourse will be nothing to the purpose. This is another abuse. All must speak of God and religion, though few are able to do it, with propriety! C.

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Ecclesiastes 5:3

Ver. 3. Pay it. Deut. xxiii. Vows must be fulfilled. W. --- God requires that we should keep the commandments; (Lu. x. 28.) and if we engage ourselves to perform some work of supererogation, he expects that we should be faithful.

To vow is of counsel; but to comply with it is of precept.

An abuse too common among the Jews is here condemned. C.

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Ecclesiastes 5:5

Ver. 5. Sin by making a vow, above thy strength, (Chal. Pineda) or by speaking what may excite the passions. Thaumat.; Bossuet --- Angel guardian assigned to each one, (W.) or the priest, who took cognizance of vows. C. --- Providence, or "foresight" in me to avoid the evil. Heb. and Sept. "it is an error," (H.) or sin of ignorance, for which certain victims were specified. Lev. v. 4.

The neglect of vows could not be thus expiated. C. --- Use no allurements to lust. M.

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Ecclesiastes 5:6

Ver. 6. Number. Those who observe dreams, are filled with apprehension. The Jews were very subject to this superstition. C. --- As dreams are vain, so are many words or excuses to evade a vow. Jun. Grot. --- Such pretences must not be made. S. Jer. M.

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Ecclesiastes 5:7

Ver. 7. These. God will bring the wicked to judgment, (C.) and shew for what design he left them in power. H.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

Ver. 8. Him. An appeal may be made to the king or to God. Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis.

Hor. iii. ode 1. --- Heb. "the king serves, (Mont.) or is served by the field." Prot.

H. --- All have a mutual dependence on each other, and thus the vanity of men and the order of Providence appear.

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Ecclesiastes 5:9

Ver. 9. Money. Avarice is like a dropsy, (C.) or poison, infecting all the person.

Sallust. --- The miser is the slave, and not the possessor, of his riches, (S.

Chrys.) like Tantalus, who could not drink, though in the midst of waters. Hor. i.

Sat. 1. --- Nescis quo valeat nummus, quem præbeat usum.

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Ecclesiastes 5:10

Ver. 10. Them. He shews the vanity of the great.

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Ecclesiastes 5:11

Ver. 11. Sleep. Is not the health and content of the poor to be preferred?

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Ecclesiastes 5:12

Ver. 12. Owner. When they are taken away, they bring greater sorrow, (C.) and even when present, they fill the mind with anxiety. H.

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Ecclesiastes 5:13

This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.

Ver. 13. Affliction. Heb. "by an evil affair," or accident. C. --- Who. Heb. "and there is nothing in his hand." H. --- As temporal riches prove detrimental to their owners, so do false philosophy and heresy to those who follow them. S.

Jer. W.

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Ecclesiastes 5:14

Ver. 14. Labour. All must die in this manner. But it is most afflicting that he was formerly rich, and must leave his son indigent. C.

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Ecclesiastes 5:16

Ver. 16. Sorrow. The person whose riches have been taken away, had made a bad use of them, (C.) living like a miser. It would be more rational to indulge in the pleasures which they afford, though this is also vain. C. iii. 14.

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Ecclesiastes 5:19

Ver. 19. Delight, while he observes due moderation. His life passes away sweetly. C.

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License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses

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