Key Verse Spotlight
Ecclesiastes 5:12 - Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing and how to apply it today
Translation: World English Bible — Catholic Edition
" The 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. "
Ecclesiastes 5:12
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
10 He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.
11 When goods increase, those who eat them are increased; and what advantage is there to its owner, except to feast on them with his eyes?
12 The 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.
13 There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.
14 Those riches perish by misfortune, and if he has fathered a son, there is nothing in his hand.
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Ecclesiastes 5:1
"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."
Ecclesiastes 5:2
"Don’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."
Ecclesiastes 5:3
"For as a dream comes with a multitude of cares, so a fool’s speech with a multitude of words."
Ecclesiastes 5:4
"When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow."
Ecclesiastes 5:5
"It is better that you should not vow, than that you should vow and not pay."
Ecclesiastes 5:6
"Don’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?"
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