Ecclesiastes 9

¹For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.[#Deut. 33:3; Job 12:10; Eccl. 8:14]

²All things come alike to all:[#Gen. 3:17–19; Job 21:7; Ps. 73:3, 12, 13; Mal. 3:15]

One event happens to the righteous and the wicked;

To the good, the clean, and the unclean;

To him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.

As is the good, so is the sinner;

He who takes an oath as he who fears an oath.

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

⁴But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

⁵For the living know that they will die;

But the dead know nothing,

And they have no more reward,

For the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished;

Nevermore will they have a share

In anything done under the sun.

⁷Go, eat your bread with joy,[#Eccl. 8:15]

And drink your wine with a merry heart;

For God has already accepted your works.

⁸Let your garments always be white,

And let your head lack no oil.

⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and in the labor which you perform under the sun.[#Eccl. 2:10]

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.[#(Col. 3:17); #Rom. 12:11; Col. 3:23]

¹¹I returned and saw under the sun that—[#Jer. 9:23; Amos 2:14, 15]

The race is not to the swift,

Nor the battle to the strong,

Nor bread to the wise,

Nor riches to men of understanding,

Nor favor to men of skill;

But time and chance happen to them all.

¹²For man also does not know his time:[#Eccl. 8:7]

Like fish taken in a cruel net,

Like birds caught in a snare,

So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,

When it falls suddenly upon them.

Wisdom Superior to Folly

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

¹⁴There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.[#2 Sam. 20:16–22]

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

¹⁶Then I said:

“Wisdom is better than strength.

Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised,

And his words are not heard.

¹⁷Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard

Rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war;

But one sinner destroys much good.”