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Expanded Comments |
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| 1 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. |
Keep thy foot – Take heed to your standing, your walk, your conduct. R3990:1
Not literal feet, but being circumspect in one's daily life. R5186:3
Do not go to the house of God as to the market place, or to some place of amusement. R5186:3
Decorum, reverence, is necessary in every place where God is worshipped. R5187:1
House of God – Whether we meet in a parlor, church, or opera house, the fact that God's people are there makes that building a holy place. R5187:1
Ready to hear – Listen; not full of mirth. All conversation should be of a kind that would edify, build up, along spiritual lines. R5187:1
We do not know any lesson the Lord's people need to learn more than that of reverence. R5187:2
Sacrifice of fools – Laughter, levity, foolish talk, jesting. R5186:6
Consider not – Many parents become so accustomed to the ways of their children that they do not realize that others are being annoyed. R5187:4
To come into the meeting late is out of harmony with the principles of both justice and love. R5187:4
He who is indifferent to the rights of others manifests that he is lacking in the spirit of love. R5187:4
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| 2 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. |
Before God – In view of the fact that "All things are naked and open with him with whom we have to do." (Heb. 4:13) R1938:1
For God – Our Judge. R1938:1
Is in heaven – Upon the throne. R1938:1
Thou upon earth – Under trial before the bar of God. R1938:1
Thy words be few – Thoughtful, wise, as uttered before God; not rash, hasty and ill-considered. R1938:1
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| 3 For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. |
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| 4 When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. |
Vowest a vow – Makest a covenant or promise. R2081:1*
Our "consecration" or "baptismal" vow, if a proper one, was all comprehensive--involving the sacrifice of all that we possessed or ever would acquire. R4238:1
Defer not to pay it – The Lord expects faithfulness in each one who has taken his covenant upon him. R5855:5
One who consecrates cannot, by subsequently changing his mind, be released from the obligations thus incurred. R2080:6*
Pay that...vowed – Its observance tends to strengthen the entire life. R5613:6
"It is a snare for a man to devour that which is holy, and after vows to make inquiry." (Prov. 20:25) R4265:5
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| 5 Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. |
Better is it – Our Lord emphasized the same lesson. (Luke 14:28-33) R4238:2
And not pay – Its violation serves to weaken the conscience. R5613:6
It is not enough that we have consecrated. It will avail nothing if we prove unfaithful to it, except to rise up in judgment against us. R2154:5
If death is not voluntary the Lord will destroy our flesh. If we resist this it will mean the hopeless death of our being. R5855:5
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| 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? |
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| 7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. |
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| 8 If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they. |
Marvel not – Take comfort that God's judgments will some day be manifest and prevail. R1532:5
That is higher – God is above all the judges of the earth. R1532:5
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| 9 Moreover the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field. |
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| 10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. |
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| 11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? |
What good is there – Business prosperity he regards as an empty bubble and the excessive labor to accomplish it as laboring for the wind. R1532:5
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| 12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. |
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| 13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt. |
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| 14 But those riches perish by evil travail: and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand. |
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| 15 As he came forth of his mother's womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand. |
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| 16 And this also is a sore evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go: and what profit hath he that hath laboured for the wind? |
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| 17 All his days also he eateth in darkness, and he hath much sorrow and wrath with his sickness. |
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| 18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion. |
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| 19 Every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth, and hath given him power to eat thereof, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labour; this is the gift of God. |
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| 20 For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart. |
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