Shared Word Translation
Ecclesiastes 9
For I have taken all this to heart and examined it all: the righteous, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether love or hate, no one knows; everything lies before them.
Everything is the same for everyone: one fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the clean and the unclean, to the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is with the good, so it is with the sinner; as with the one who swears, so with the one who fears an oath.
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: one fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of humankind are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and afterward—they go to the dead.
For whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, for their memory is forgotten.
Their love, their hatred, and their envy have already perished, and they no longer have a share forever in anything that is done under the sun.
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a glad heart, for God has already taken pleasure in your works.
Let your garments always be white, and do not let oil be lacking on your head.
Enjoy life with the woman you love, all the days of your vaporous life that God has given you under the sun—all your days of vapor. For this is your portion in life and in your toil at which you labor under the sun.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your strength, for there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
Again I saw under the sun
that the race is not for the swift,
nor the battle for the strong;
nor does bread belong to the wise,
nor wealth to those with understanding,
nor favor to those with knowledge.
For time and chance overtake them all.
For no one knows their time. Like fish caught in an evil net, and like birds caught in a trap, so people are snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them.
I also saw this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
There was a small city with few people in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built great siegeworks against it.
But there was found in it a poor wise man, and by his wisdom he delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.
So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,” yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and their words are not heard.
The words of the wise, spoken quietly,
are heard more than the cry of a ruler among fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.