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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. 10 Whatsoever thine hand shall find to do, do with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Hades wither thou goest. 11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet wealth to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; for time and chance will happen to them all. 12 For surely man also knows not his time: as fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as birds that are caught in a snare; even thus the sons of men are snared at an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them. 13 This I also saw to be wisdom under the sun, and it is great before me: 14 suppose there were a little city, and few men in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great mounds against it; 15 and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom: yet no man would remember that poor man. 16 And I said Wisdom is better than power: yet the wisdom of the poor man is set at nought, and his words not listened to. 17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of them that rule in folly. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war: and one sinner will destroy much good. Ecclesiastes 9:7-18, Brenton Septuagint Translation. Public domain.
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