Ecclesiastes 9

¹But all this I laid to heart , examining it all , how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God . Whether it is love or hate , man does not know ; both are before him.

²It is the same for all , since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked , to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean , to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice . As the good one is, so is the sinner , and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath .

³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun , that the same event happens to all . Also , the hearts of the children of man are full of evil , and madness is in their hearts while they live , and after that they go to the dead .

⁴But he who is joined with all the living has 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 .

⁶Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished , and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun .

⁷Go , eat your bread with joy , and drink your wine with a merry heart , for God has already approved what you do .

⁸Let your garments be always white . Let not oil be lacking on your head .

⁹Enjoy life with the wife whom you love , all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun , because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun .

¹⁰Whatever your hand finds to do , do it with your might , for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol , to which you are going .

¹¹Again 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 intelligent , nor favor to those with knowledge , but time and chance happen to them all .

¹²For man does not know his time . Like fish that are taken in an evil net , and like birds that are caught in a snare , so the children of man are snared at an evil time , when it suddenly falls upon them.

¹³I have also seen this example of wisdom 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 and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.

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

¹⁶But I say that wisdom is better than might , though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard .

¹⁷The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools .

¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war , but one sinner destroys much good .