Ecclesiastes 9

Modern

Literal

Death Comes to Good and Bad

¹So 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.

¹Indeed, all this I gave to my heart, in order to examine all this, that the righteous and the wise and their work are in the hand of God. Even love, even hatred—man does not know all that is before their faces.

²It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad,^a 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.

²All is as for all: One event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the bad, and to the clean and to the unclean, and to the one sacrificing and to the one who is not sacrificing; as is the good one, so is the sinner, the one swearing an oath as the one refusing an oath.

³This 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.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: That one event is to all, and also that the heart of the sons of man is full of evil; and madness is in their hearts while they live, and afterward to the dead.

⁴There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.

⁴For whoever that is joined to all the living, there is hope, for a living dog is better than a lion that is dead;

⁵For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

⁵for the living know that they will die, and the dead cannot know anything, and there is not anymore for them a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶Their 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.

⁶Also their love and their hatred and their jealousy already have perished, and there is not unto them anymore a portion forever in all that is done under the sun.

Enjoy Your Portion in This Life

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:

⁷Go, eat your bread with gladness, and drink your wine with a good heart, for already God has accepted your works.

⁸Let your garments always be white,

and never spare the oil for your head.

⁸At every time, let your garments be white, and let oil not be lacking upon your head.

⁹Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting^a 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.

⁹See life with a wife whom you have loved, all the days of the life of your vapor, which He has given to you under the sun—all your days of vapor—for that is your portion in this life, and in the toil by which you toil under the sun.

¹⁰Whatever 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.

¹⁰All that your hand finds to do, with your strength you must do it, for there is no work or plan or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, there where you are going.

¹¹I 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.

¹¹I returned and saw under the sun how the race is not to the swift, and the battle not to the strong, and bread not to the wise, and wealth not to the discerning, and favor not to the skillful. For time and chance will happen to them all.

¹²For 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.

¹²For even the man does not know his time; like the fish taken in a cruel net, and like the birds that are grabbed by the snare, so for them: The sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls upon them suddenly.

Wisdom Is Better than Strength

¹³I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

¹³This also I have seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me:

¹⁴There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it.

¹⁴A city was small, and few men in it; and a great king came against it, and he besieged it and built great siege ramps against it.

¹⁵Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁵And there was found in it a poor wise man, and he delivered the city by his wisdom. And mankind has not remembered that poor man.

¹⁶And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

¹⁶And I said, “Better is wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor one is despised, and his words are not heard.”

¹⁷The calm words of the wise are heeded

over the shouts of a ruler among fools.

¹⁷The words of the wise are heeded in quiet over the shout of a ruler among fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war,

but one sinner destroys much good.

¹⁸Better wisdom than weapons of war, and one sinner can destroy much good.