EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Ecclesiastes 5:1
1When you go to God's temple, be careful what you do. Listen carefully when you come near to God. Do not offer sacrifices in the way that foolish people do. They do not even know that they are doing something bad.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
Context of Ecclesiastes 5:1
When you go to God's temple, be careful what you do. Listen carefully when you come near to God. Do not offer sacrifices in the way that foolish people do. They do not even know that they are doing something bad. 2You should not speak too soon. Think carefully before you make a promise to God. God is in heaven and you are here on the earth. So do not say too much. 3If you worry about many things, you will have many dreams. If you talk too much, you will say foolish things.
Read all of Ecclesiastes 5Ecclesiastes 5:1 word by word
שְׁמֹ֣ר רַגְלְךָ֗ כַּאֲשֶׁ֤ר תֵּלֵךְ֙ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים וְקָר֣וֹב לִשְׁמֹ֔עַ מִתֵּ֥ת הַכְּסִילִ֖ים זָ֑בַח כִּֽי־אֵינָ֥ם יוֹדְעִ֖ים לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת רָֽע׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Keepשָׁמַרshâmar · to keep: guardH8104
- thy footרֶ֫גֶלregel · footH7272
- when thou goestיָלַךְyâlak · to walkH3212
- to the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: templeH1004
- of Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
- and be more readyקָרֹבqârôb qârôb · nearH7138
- to hearשָׁמַעshâma‛ · to hear: hearH8085
- than to giveנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
- the sacrificeזֶ֫בַחzebach · sacrificeH2077
- of foolsכְּסִילkesîyl · foolH3684
- for they considerיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
- not that they doעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
- evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
Cross-references for Ecclesiastes 5:1
- Genesis 28:16Jacob woke from his sleep. He thought, ‘The Lord is in this place and I did not know it.’
- Exodus 3:5God said to Moses, ‘Do not come nearer! Remove your shoes from your feet. The ground that you are standing on is holy.’
- Leviticus 10:3Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the Lord said, “People may come near to me. But those people must see that I am holy. All the people must give honour to me.” ’ Aaron did not reply.
- Joshua 5:15The captain of the Lord's army said, ‘Remove your shoes from your feet. You are standing on holy ground.’ Joshua did that.
- 2 Chronicles 26:16Uzziah was so powerful that he became proud. That caused him to lose his power. He began to turn away from the Lord his God. He went into the Lord's temple to burn incense on the special altar there.
- Psalms 89:7When the angels meet together in heaven, they respect you with fear. All who meet round your throne in heaven respect you, as you deserve.
- Isaiah 1:12You come to worship me in my temple. But are you doing what I want? Did I ask you to march round the temple yards with all your animals?
- 1 Corinthians 11:22If you want to eat like that, you have your own homes where you can eat and drink! Instead, you insult the people of God's church. You make people who have nothing feel ashamed. I cannot praise you for what you do. Whatever I might say to you about this, I certainly cannot praise you.
- Hebrews 12:28But we are receiving a place where we will rule with God. We belong to God's kingdom, and nobody can ever shake that! So we should thank God. We should worship him in a way that makes him happy. He is great, and we should serve him well and respect him.
- Acts 10:33So I sent some men immediately to bring you here. Thank you that you agreed to come. Now we are all here together, and God is with us. We are ready to listen to your message. Please tell us everything that the Lord God has told you to say.’
- Acts 17:11The Jewish people in Berea were better than the people in Thessalonica. They were happy to listen carefully to Paul. Every day they also studied the Bible. They wanted to know if Paul's message was true.
- James 1:19Understand this, my Christian friends: We must all be careful to listen. We should not be too quick to speak. We should not get angry quickly.
- 1 Peter 2:1So you must refuse to do any evil things. Do not tell lies to deceive people. Do not be hypocrites. Do not be jealous of other people. Do not say bad things against other people.
- Genesis 4:3One day, it was time for the harvest. Cain brought to the Lord some of his crops as an offering.
- 1 Samuel 13:12I thought that they would come to attack me at Gilgal. I thought, “Before they do that, I must ask the Lord to help us in the fight.” Because of that, I had to offer the burnt offering to him.’
- 1 Samuel 15:21But the army did not kill all the sheep and cows that they took from the Amalekites. They brought the best animals to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5:1
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 1Keep thy foot - This verse the Hebrew and all the versions join to the preceding chapter. Solomon, having before intimated, though very briefly, that the only cure against human vanity is a due sense of religion, now enters more largely on this important subject, and gives some excellent directions with regard to the right performance of Divine service, the nature of vocal and mental prayer, the danger of rash vows, etc. - C. The whole verse might be more…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1Keep thy foot - i. e., Give thy mind to what thou art going to do. The house of God - It has been said that here an ordinary devout Hebrew writer might have been expected to call it “the house of Yahweh;” but to those who accept this book as the work of Solomon after his fall into idolatry, it will appear a natural sign of the writer‘s self-humiliation, an acknowledgment of his unworthiness of the privileges of a son of the covenant, that he avoids the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 1What renders devotion vain. (Eccl. 5:1-3) Of vows, and oppression. (Eccl. 5:4-8) the vanity of riches shown. (Eccl. 5:9-7) The right use of riches. (Eccl. 5:18-20) Verses 1-3 Address thyself to the worship of God, and take time to compose thyself for it. Keep thy thoughts from roving and wandering: keep thy affections from running out toward wrong objects. We should avoid vain repetitions; copious prayers are not here condemned, but those that are…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1The house of God offers a chance for respectful words and thoughtful promises, but it is mainly a place for listening.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-20Ec 5:1-20. 1. From vanity connected with kings, he passes to vanities (Ec 5:7) which may be fallen into in serving the King of kings, even by those who, convinced of the vanity of the creature, wish to worship the Creator. Keep thy foot--In going to worship, go with considerate, circumspect, reverent feeling. The allusion is to the taking off the shoes, or sandals, in entering a temple (Ex 3:5; Jos 5:15, which passages perhaps gave rise to the custom)…Read the comment
Topics related to Ecclesiastes 5:1
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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