Ecclesiastes 9:5
New International Version
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

New Living Translation
The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.

English Standard Version
For 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.

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

King James Bible
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

New King James Version
For 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.

New American Standard Bible
For the living know that they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor do they have a reward any longer, for their memory is forgotten.

NASB 1995
For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.

NASB 1977
For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.

Amplified Bible
For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they no longer have a reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten.

Christian Standard Bible
For 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.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For 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.

American Standard Version
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Because the living know that they are dying, and the dead do not know a thing, and there is no more reward for them, because their memory is forgotten

Brenton Septuagint Translation
For the living will know that they shall die: but the dead know nothing, and there is no longer any reward to them; for their memory is lost.

Contemporary English Version
We know we will die, but the dead don't know a thing. Nothing good will happen to them--they are gone and forgotten.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.

English Revised Version
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything. There is no more reward for the dead when the memory of them has faded.

Good News Translation
Yes, the living know they are going to die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward; they are completely forgotten.

International Standard Version
At least the living know they will die, but the dead know nothing; they no longer have a reward, since memory about them has been forgotten.

JPS Tanakh 1917
For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Literal Standard Version
For the living know that they die, and the dead do not know anything, and there is no more reward to them, for their remembrance has been forgotten.

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

New American Bible
For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost.

NET Bible
For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything; they have no further reward--and even the memory of them disappears.

New Revised Standard Version
The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost.

New Heart English Bible
For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

World English Bible
For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.

Young's Literal Translation
For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Death Comes to Good and Bad
4There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion. 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. 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.…

Cross References
Job 14:21
If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.

Psalm 88:12
Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

Ecclesiastes 1:11
There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.

Ecclesiastes 2:16
For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!

Ecclesiastes 8:10
Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 9:4
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever 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.


Treasury of Scripture

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

the living

Ecclesiastes 7:2
It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

Job 30:23
For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

the dead

Job 14:21
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

Psalm 6:5
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Psalm 88:10,11
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah…

for the

Ecclesiastes 2:16
For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

Ecclesiastes 8:10
And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

Job 7:8-10
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not…

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Conscious Dead Death Die Forgotten Further Longer Memory Remembrance Reward
Ecclesiastes 9
1. like things happen to good and bad
4. there is a necessity of death unto men
7. Comfort is all their portion in this life
11. God's providence rules over all
13. wisdom is better than strength














Verse 5. - For the living know that they shall die. This is added in confirmation of the statement in ver. 4. The living have at least the consciousness that they will soon have to die, and this leads them to work while it is day, to employ their faculties worthily, to make use of opportunities, to enjoy and profit by the present. They have a certain fixed event to which they must look forward; and they have not to stand idle, lamenting their fate, but their duty and their happiness is to accept the inevitable and make the best of it. But the dead know not anything. They are cut off from the active, bustling world; their work is done; they have nothing to expect, nothing to labor for. What passes upon earth affects them not; the knowledge of it reaches them no longer. Aristotle's idea was that the dead did know something, in a hazy and indistinct way, of what went on in the upper world, and were in some slight degree influenced thereby, but not to such a degree as to change happiness into misery, or vice versa ('Eth. Nicom.,' 1:10 and 11). Neither have they any more a reward; i.e. no fruit for labor done. There is no question here about future retribution in another world. The gloomy view of the writer at this moment precludes all idea of such an adjustment of anomalies after death. For the memory of them is forgotten. They have not even the poor reward of being remembered by loving posterity, which in the mind of an Oriental was an eminent blessing, to be much desired. There is a paronomasia in zeker, "memory," and sakar, "reward," which, as Plumptre suggests, may be approximately represented in English by the words "record" and "reward."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For
כִּ֧י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the living
הַֽחַיִּ֛ים (ha·ḥay·yîm)
Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

know
יוֹדְעִ֖ים (yō·wḏ·‘îm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3045: To know

that they will die,
שֶׁיָּמֻ֑תוּ (še·yā·mu·ṯū)
Pronoun - relative | Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

but the dead
וְהַמֵּתִ֞ים (wə·ham·mê·ṯîm)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

know
יוֹדְעִ֣ים (yō·wḏ·‘îm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3045: To know

nothing.
מְא֗וּמָה (mə·’ū·māh)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3972: A speck, point, nothing

They have no
וְאֵֽין־ (wə·’ên-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

further
ע֤וֹד (‘ō·wḏ)
Adverb
Strong's 5750: Iteration, continuance, again, repeatedly, still, more

reward,
שָׂכָ֔ר (śā·ḵār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7939: Payment of contract, salary, fare, maintenance, compensation, benefit

because
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the memory
זִכְרָֽם׃ (ziḵ·rām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 2143: A memento, recollection, commemoration

of them is forgotten.
נִשְׁכַּ֖ח (niš·kaḥ)
Verb - Nifal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7911: To mislay, to be oblivious of, from want of memory, attention


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OT Poetry: Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will (Ecclesiast. Ec Ecc Eccles.)
Ecclesiastes 9:4
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