Ecclesiastes 5:5 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

⁵ Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

⁵ It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. [Prov. 20:25; Acts 5:4.]

American Standard Version (1901)

⁵ Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Common English Bible

⁵ Better not to make a promise than to make a promise without fulfilling it.

Catholic Public Domain Version

⁵ You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, "There is no Providence." For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands.

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

⁵ Give not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin: and say not before the angel: There is no providence: lest God be angry at thy words, and destroy all the works of thy hands.

Ecclesiastes 5:5 Cross References

Proverbs 20:25

It is a snare for one to say rashly, “It is holy,” and begin to reflect only after making a vow.

Leviticus 5:4

Or when any of you utter aloud a rash oath for a bad or a good purpose, whatever people utter in an oath and are unaware of it, when you come to know it, you shall in any of these be guilty.

Jonah 2:9

But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”

Malachi 2:7

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Acts 5:4

While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!”

Deuteronomy 23:21

“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not postpone fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt.

Deuteronomy 23:22

But if you refrain from vowing, you will not incur guilt.

Judges 11:35

When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.”