Ecclesiastes 9
9
Enjoy Life Despite Death
1Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.#Dt 33:3 People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. 2Everything is the same for everyone:#Jb 9:22 There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked,#Ec 2:14 for the good and the bad,#9:2 LXX, Aq, Syr, Vg; MT omits and the bad for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath. 3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live;#Ec 1:17 after that they go to the dead. 4But there is hope for whoever is joined#9:4 Alt Hb tradition reads chosen with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.#Ec 2:16 6Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.
7Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.#Ec 2:24; 3:13; 5:18; 8:15 8Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head.#Ps 23:5 9Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting#9:9 Or futile life,#Ec 6:12; 7:15 which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle#Ec 2:10 under the sun. 10Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength,#Rm 12:11; Col 3:23 because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom#Ec 9:5 in Sheol where you are going.
The Limitations of Wisdom
11Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,#Am 2:14–15 or the battle to the strong,#2Ch 20:15 or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them. 12For certainly no one knows his time:#Ec 8:7 like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap,#Pr 7:23 so people are trapped in an evil time#Pr 29:6 as it suddenly falls on them.#Lk 21:34–35
13I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me: 14There was a small city with few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works against it. 15Now a poor wise man was found in the city,#Ec 4:13 and he delivered the city by his wisdom.#2Sm 20:22 Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,#Ec 7:19 but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.”
17The calm words of the wise are heeded
more than the shouts of a ruler over fools.
18Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much good.#Jos 7:1
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Ecclesiastes 9: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Ecclesiastes 9
9
1I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous people, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead. 2It makes no difference.#9.2 people, even their… difference; or people, but no one knows whether it is out of love or hate. 2 It makes no difference what lies ahead of us. The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad,#9.2 Some ancient translations and the bad; Hebrew does not have these words. to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not. 3One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die. 4But anyone who is alive in the world of the living has some hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion. 5Yes, the living know they are going to die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward; they are completely forgotten. 6Their loves, their hates, their passions, all died with them. They will never again take part in anything that happens in this world.
7Go ahead — eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It's all right with God. 8Always look happy and cheerful. 9Enjoy life with the woman you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble. 10Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead — and that is where you are going.
11I realized another thing, that in this world fast runners do not always win the race, and the brave do not always win the battle. The wise do not always earn a living, intelligent people do not always get rich, and capable people do not always rise to high positions. Bad luck happens to everyone. 12You never know when your time is coming. Like birds suddenly caught in a trap, like fish caught in a net, we are trapped at some evil moment when we least expect it.
Thoughts on Wisdom and Foolishness
13There is something else I saw, a good example of how wisdom is regarded in this world. 14There was a little town without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break through the walls. 15Someone lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him.#9.15 he could have… him; or he saved the town. But later on no one remembered him. 16I have always said that wisdom is better than strength, but no one thinks of the poor as wise or pays any attention to what they say. 17It is better to listen to the quiet words of a wise person than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools. 18Wisdom does more good than weapons, but one sinner can undo a lot of good.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.