Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your words be few.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV Do not be rash with your mouth, And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore let your words be few.
- NASB Do not be quick with your mouth or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.
- NLT Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Speak few and measured words before God, remembering He is in heaven and you on earth. It matters because reverence demands humility and restraint in how we address the Almighty.
Overview
The Preacher counsels against rash, careless speech in prayer and vows. The contrast of God in heaven and man on earth grounds the call in God's transcendence and our creatureliness. Jesus echoes this in warning against 'vain repetitions' (Matthew 6:7), teaching that prayer rests not on many words but on trust in a Father who already knows our needs.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Matt 6:7And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
- Prov 10:19When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
- Isa 55:9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
- Matt 6:9So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
- Eccl 5:3As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
- Gen 18:27Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—
- Eccl 5:7For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.
- Num 30:2–5If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.
- Gen 28:20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Prov 20:25It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly, only later to reconsider his vows.
- Jas 3:2We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.
- Ps 115:3Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
- Gen 18:32Finally, Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak once more. Suppose ten are found there?” And He answered, “On account of the ten, I will not destroy it.”
- Gen 18:30Then Abraham said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?” He replied, “If I find thirty there, I will not do it.”
- 1 Sam 14:24–45Now the men of Israel were in distress that day, for Saul had placed the troops under an oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food before evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted any food.
- Judg 11:30Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,
- Mark 6:23And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!”
- Gen 28:22And this stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.”
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 5:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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