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?

For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this; that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them.

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.

All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

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 an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that [they go] to the dead.

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

For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope: for 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 shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; 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.

As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that 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.

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.

8 Always wear smart clothes and look good.

Let thy garments be always white; and let not thy head lack ointment.

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.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest 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)

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. (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 returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but fame and chance happeneth to them all.

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.

For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so, are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

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

I have also seen wisdom under the sun on this wise, and it seemed great unto me:

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 little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

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.

Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same 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.

Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

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 [spoken] in quiet are heard more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

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: but one sinner destroyeth much good.