Ecclesiastes 9

A Common Destiny for All

9So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.H5414H3820H952H6662H2450H5652H3027H430H120H3045H1571H160H8135H64402All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.H259H4745H6662H7563H2896H2889H2931H2076H834H2076H2896H2398H7650H3373H76213This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.H7451H6213H8121H259H4745H3820H1121H120H4390H7451H1947H3824H2416H310H41914Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!H4310H3426H2266H977H2416H986H2416H3611H2896H4191H7385For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten.H2416H3045H4191H4191H3045H3972H7939H2143H79116Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.H160H8135H7068H3528H6H2506H5769H6213H81217Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do.H3212H398H3899H8057H8354H3196H2896H3820H430H3528H7521H46398Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.H899H6256H3836H7218H2637H80819Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.H2416H7200H802H157H3117H2416H1892H5414H8121H3117H1892H2506H2416H5999H6001H812110Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.H3027H4672H6213H6213H3581H4639H2808H1847H2451H7585H198011I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.H7725H7200H8121H4793H7031H4421H1368H3899H2450H6239H995H2580H3045H6256H6294H713612Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.H120H3045H6256H1709H270H7451H4685H6833H270H6341H1992H1121H120H3369H7451H6256H5307H6597

Wisdom Better Than Folly

13I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:H2090H2451H7200H8121H141914There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siegeworks against it.H6996H5892H4592H582H935H1419H4428H5437H1129H1419H468515Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.H4672H4542H2450H376H2451H4422H5892H120H2142H4542H37616So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength." But the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.H559H2451H2896H1369H4542H2451H959H1697H808517The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.H1697H2450H8085H5183H2201H4910H368418Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.H2451H2896H3627H7128H259H2398H6H7235H2896