Ecclesiastes 5:6
Suffer 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?
Ecclesiastes 5:6 in other translations
| 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? |
|---|---|
| WEB | 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? |
| ASV | Suffer 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 thy hands? |
| YLT | Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger, that ‘it is an error,' why is God wroth because of thy voice, and hath destroyed the work of thy hands? |
| DARBY | Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an inadvertence. Wherefore should God be wroth at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands? |
| BBE | Let not your mouth make your flesh do evil. And say not before the angel, It was an error. So that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands. |
| Webster | 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? |
What does Ecclesiastes 5:6 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ecclesiastes 5:4-8
When a person made engagements rashly, he suffered his mouth to cause his flesh to sin. The case supposes a man coming to the priest, and pretending that his vow was made rashly, and that it would be wrong to fulfil it. Such mockery of God would bring the Divine displeasure, which might blast what was thus unduly kept. We are to keep down the fear of man. Set God before thee; then, if thou seest the oppression of…
Ecclesiastes 5:6 in the original Hebrew
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Cross references for Ecclesiastes 5:6
- James 1:26
If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
- 2 John 1:8
Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
- James 3:2
For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
- Ecclesiastes 5:1-2
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. 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.
- Malachi 2:7
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
- Leviticus 5:4-6
Or if a soul swear, pronouncing with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.
- Genesis 48:16
The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
- 1 Corinthians 3:13-15
Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
- Numbers 15:25
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their ignorance:
- Hebrews 1:14
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1,2; Jas 1:26; 3:2
before.Or, "before the messenger," {hammalach,} the priest whose business it was to take cognizance of vows and offerings.
Le 5:4,5; Ge 48:16; Ho 12:4,5; Mal 2:7; 3:1; Ac 7:30-35; 1Co 11:10
1Ti 5:21; Heb 1:14
it was.
Le 5:4-6; 27:9,10
destroy.
Hag 1:9-11; 2:14-17; 1Co 3:13-15; 2Jo 1:8
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Ecclesiastes 5:5
Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.
- Ecclesiastes 5:6
Suffer 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?
- Ecclesiastes 5:7
For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
Ecclesiastes 5:6 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | No sueltes tu boca para hacer pecar á tu carne; ni digas delante del ángel, que fué ignorancia. ¿Por qué harás que Dios se aire á causa de tu voz, y que destruya la obra de tus manos? |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | Car dans la multitude des songes il y a des vanités, et aussi dans beaucoup de paroles; mais crains Dieu. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | Gestatte deinem Munde nicht, daß er dein Fleisch sündigen mache; und sprich nicht vor dem Boten Gottes, es sei ein Versehen gewesen: warum sollte Gott über deine Stimme zürnen und das Werk deiner Hände verderben? |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | Ubi multa sunt somnia, plurimæ sunt vanitates, et sermones innumeri; tu vero Deum time. |