The Evanescence of Wealth
(Ecclesiastes 5:8–20)

1O heare this, all ye people: pondre it well, all ye that dwell vpo the earth.

2Hye & lowe, riche & poore, one wt another.

3My mouth shal speake of wysdome, and my hert shal muse of vnderstondinge.

4I wil encline myne eare to the parable, & shewe my darcke speach vpon the harpe.

5Wherfore shulde I feare the euell dayes, whe the wickednesse of my heles copaseth me rounde aboute?

6They that put their trust in their good, & boost them selues in the multitude of their riches.

7No man maye deliuer his brother, ner make agrement for him vnto God.

8For it costeth more to redeme their soules, so that he must let that alone for euer.

9Yee though he lyue loge, & se not ye graue.

10For it shal be sene, yt soch wyse me shal dye & perishe together, as well as the ignoraunt and foolish, & leaue their goodes for other.

11Loke what is in their houses, it cotinueth still: their dwellinge places endure from one generacion to another, & are called after their owne names vpon the earth,

12Neuerthelesse ma abydeth not insoch honor, but is copared vnto ye brute beastes, & becometh like vnto the.

13This waie of theirs is very foolishnesse, & yet their posterite prayse it wt their mouth.

14Sela. They lye in the hell like shepe, death shal gnawe vpon them, & the rightuous shal haue dominacion of them in the mornynge by tymes: their stregth shal consume, & hell shalbe their dwellinge.

15But God shal deliuer my soule from the power of hell, when he receaueth me.

16Sela. O be not thou afrayed, whan one is made riche, & the glory of his house increased.

17For he shal cary nothinge awaye wt him when he dyeth, nether shal his pompe folowe him.

18Whyle he lyueth, he is counted an happie man: & so loge as he is in prosperite, me speake good of him.

19But whe he foloweth his fathers generacion, he shal neuer se light eny more.

20When a man is in honoure and hath no vnderstodinge, he is compared vnto the brute beastes, and becommeth like vnto them.