Ecclesiastes 9
1 I thought about all those things, and I concluded that God controls [what happens to] everyone, even those who are wise and those who are righteous. No one knows whether [others] will love them or whether they will hate them.
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 [But we know that some time in the future] we will all die; it does not matter whether we act righteously or wickedly, whether we are good or whether we are bad, whether we are acceptable for [worshiping God] or whether [we have done things to cause us to be] unacceptable; it does not matter if we offer sacrifices [to God] or if we do not; it does not matter if we do what we have promised God that we will do or if we do not; [we all die]. The same thing will happen to good people and to sinful people, to those who solemnly promise [to do things for God] and to those who are afraid to make such promises.
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 It seems wrong that the same thing happens to everyone on this earth: Everyone dies [EUP]. Furthermore, people’s inner beings are full of evil. People do foolish things while they are alive, and then they die and join those who are already 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 While we are alive, we confidently expect [that good things will happen to us]. [We despise] dogs, but it is better to be a dog that is alive than to be a [majestic] lion that is dead.
There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 We who are alive know that [some day] we will die, but dead people do not know anything. Dead people do not receive any more rewards, and people soon forget them.
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 [While they were alive], they loved [some people], they hated [some people], they envied [some people], but that all ends when they die. They will never again be a part of anything that happens here on the earth.
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 [So I say], be joyful [DOU] while you eat your food and drink your wine, because that is what God wants you to do.
Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.
8 Wear nice [MTY] clothes and make your face look nice.
At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head.
9 Enjoy living with your wife whom you love, all during the time that God has given to you to be alive here on this earth. And even though it is difficult to understand why many things happen, enjoy doing the work that you do here on this earth.
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 are able to do, do it with all your energy, because [some time you will die], and in the place of the dead where you are going, no one works or plans to do anything or knows anything or is wise. (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 have seen something else here on the earth: The person who runs fastest does not [always] win the race, the strongest soldiers do not [always] win the battle, the wisest people do not [always] have food, the smartest people do not [always] become rich, and people who have studied a lot are not [always] (honored/treated very specially) by others; we cannot [always] control what things will happen to us and where they will happen.
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 No one knows when he will die [EUP]; fish are cruelly caught in a net, and birds are caught in snares/traps; similarly [SIM], people experience disasters at times when they do not expect them to happen.
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 Once I saw something that a wise man did that impressed me.
This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
14 There was a small town, where only a few people lived. The army of a great king came to that town and surrounded it. They built dirt ramps up against the walls in order to climb up and attack the town.
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 In that town there was a man who was poor but very wise. Because of doing what that man [suggested], the town was saved; but people [soon] forgot about him.
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 So I realized that although being wise is better than being strong, if you are poor, no one will appreciate what you do, and people will soon forget what you said.
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 Speaking quietly what is [very] wise is [much] more sensible than a king shouting to foolish people.
The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.
18 Being wise is more useful than [a lot of] weapons; but if you do one foolish thing, [it is possible that] because of doing that, you will ruin all the good things that you have done.
Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.
