Ecclesiastes 9:1-9 ▼

1 I saw that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: yea, there is no man that knows either love or hatred, though all are before their face.

2 Vanity is in all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good, and to the bad; both to the pure, and to the impure; both to him that sacrifices, and to him that sacrifice not: as is the good, so is the sinner: as is the swearer, even so is he that fears an oath.

3 There is this evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yea, the heart of the sons of men is filled with evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after that they go to the dead.

4 for who is he that has fellowship with all the living? there is hope of him : for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 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.

6 also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, have now perished; yea, there is no portion for them any more for ever in all that is done under the sun.

7 Go, eat thy bread with mirth, and drink thy wine with a joyful heart; for now God has favourably accepted thy works.

8 Let thy garments be always white; and let not oil be wanting on thine head.

9 And see life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which are given thee under the sun: for that is thy portion in thy life, and in thy labour wherein thou labourest under the sun.