Ecclesiastes 9:1-9 ▼

1 But all this I have laid to my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred does man know, the whole [is] before them.

2 The whole [is] as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath.

3 This [is] an evil among all that has been done under the sun, that one event [is] to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart during their life, and after it—to the dead.

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

5 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.

6 Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, has already perished, and they have no more portion for all time in all that has been done under the sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a glad heart, for already has God been pleased with your works.

8 At all times let your garments be white, and do not let oil be lacking on your head.

9 See life with the wife whom you have loved, all the days of the life of your vanity, that He has given to you under the sun, all the days of your vanity, for it [is] your portion in life, even of your labor that you are laboring at under the sun.