Ecclesiastes 9

1 I had my mind consider all this. Wise and good people and everything they do are in God's hands. Love or hate—who knows what will happen to them?

I have drawn all these things through my heart, so that I might carefully understand. There are just men as well as wise men, and their works are in the hand of God. And yet a man does not know so much as whether he is worthy of love or of hatred.

2 Yet we all share the same destiny—those who do right, those who do evil, the good, the religiously-observant and those that are not, those who sacrifice and those who don't. Those who do good are as those who sin, those who make vows to God are as those who don't.

But all things in the future remain uncertain, because all things happen equally to the just and to the impious, to the good and to the bad, to the pure and to the impure, to those who offer sacrifices and to those who despise sacrifices. As the good are, so also are sinners. As those who commit perjury are, so also are those who swear to the truth.

3 This is just so wrong—that everyone here on earth should suffer the same fate! On top of that, people's minds are filled with evil. They spend their lives thinking about stupid things, and then they die.

This is a very great burden among all things that are done under the sun: that the same things happen to everyone. And when the hearts of the sons of men are filled with malice and contempt in their lives, afterwards they shall be dragged down to hell. (questioned)

4 But the living still have hope—a live dog is better than a dead lion!

There is no one who lives forever, or who even has confidence in this regard. A living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 The living are conscious of the fact that they're going to die, but the dead have no consciousness of anything. They don't receive any further benefit; they're forgotten.

For the living know that they themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. For the memory of them is forgotten.

6 Their love, hate, and envy—it's all gone. They have no further part in anything that happens here on earth.

Likewise, love and hatred and envy have all perished together, nor have they any place in this age and in the work which is done under the sun.

7 So go ahead and eat your food, and enjoy it. Drink your wine with a happy heart. That's what God intends that you should do.

So then, go and eat your bread with rejoicing, and drink your wine with gladness. For your works are pleasing to God.

8 Always wear smart clothes and look good.

Let your garments be white at all times, and let not oil be absent from your head.

9 Enjoy life with the wife that you love—the one God gave you—during all the days of this brief life, all these passing days whose meaning is so hard to understand as you work here on earth.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your uncertain life which have been given to you under the sun, during all the time of your vanity. For this is your portion in life and in your labor, with which you labor under the sun.

10 Whatever you do, do it with all your strength, for when you go to the grave there's no more working or thinking, no more knowing or being wise. (Sheol h7585)

Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in death, toward which you are hurrying. (Sheol h7585)

11 I thought about other things that happen here on earth. Races are not always won by the fastest runner. Battles are not always decided by the strongest warrior. Also, the wise do not always have food, intelligent people do not always make money, and those who are clever do not always win favor. Time and chance affect all of them.

I turned myself toward 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 wealth to the learned, nor grace to the skillful: but there is a time and an end for all these things.

12 You can't predict when your end will come. Just like fish caught in a net, or birds caught in a trap, so people are suddenly caught by death when they least expect it.

Man does not know his own end. But, just as fish are caught with a hook, and birds are captured with a snare, so are men seized in the evil time, when it will suddenly overwhelm them.

13 Here's another aspect of wisdom that impressed me about what happens here on earth.

This wisdom, likewise, I have seen under the sun, and I have examined it intensely.

14 Once there was a small town with only a few inhabitants. A powerful king came and besieged the town, building great earth ramps against its walls.

There was a small city, with a few men in it. There came against it a great king, who surrounded it, and built fortifications all around it, and the blockade was completed.

15 In that town lived a man who was wise, but poor. He saved the town by his wisdom. But no one remembered to thank that poor man.

And there was found within it, a poor and wise man, and he freed the city through his wisdom, and nothing was recorded afterward of that poor man.

16 As I've always said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Yet the wisdom of that poor man was dismissed—people didn't pay attention to what he said.

And so, I declared that wisdom is better than strength. But how is it, then, that the wisdom of the poor man is treated with contempt, and his words are not heeded?

17 It's better to listen to the calm words of a wise person than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

The words of the wise are heard in silence, more so than the outcry of a prince among the foolish.

18 It's better to have wisdom than weapons of war; but a sinner can destroy a lot of good.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war. And whoever offends in one thing, shall lose many good things.