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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 6:7But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
- Prov 10:19In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
- Isa 55:9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Matt 6:9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
- Eccl 5:3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
- Gen 18:27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the LORD, which am but dust and ashes:
- Eccl 5:7For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God.
- Num 30:2–5If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
- Gen 28:20And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
- Prov 20:25It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry.
- Jas 3:2For 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.
- Ps 115:3But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
- Gen 18:32And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.
- Gen 18:30And he said unto him, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
- 1 Sam 14:24–45And the men of Israel were distressed that day: for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man that eateth any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted any food.
- Judg 11:30And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,
- Mark 6:23And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
- Gen 28:22And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
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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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