Ecclesiastes 9
1 So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.
All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:
2 It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.
But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.
3 This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.
This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell. (questioned)
4 There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.
Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.
8 Let your garments always be white, and never spare the oil for your head.
At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head.
9 Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun.
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun.
10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom. (Sheol h7585)
Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening. (Sheol h7585)
11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
I turned me to another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the learned, nor favour to the skillful: but time and chance in all.
12 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them.
Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.
13 I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:
This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
14 There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.
A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege was perfect.
15 Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man.
16 And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard?
17 The calm words of the wise are heeded over the shouts of a ruler among fools.
The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.
