Death Comes to Good and Bad
1 All this I took to heart, exploring all of this and concluding that the righteous, and the wise and their works, are in the hands of God. No man knows whether it is love or whether it is hatred that is before him.
2 All things happen the same to everyone. Life is one event for both the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for him who sacrifices and for him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner, he who takes an oath, as he who fears taking an oath.
3 This is a travesty–all this that is done under the sun, that life is one event for everyone. Indeed, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything, nor do they have any more reward; for their memory is forgotten. 6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; nor do they have any longer a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
Enjoy Your Portion in This Life
7 Go your way—eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God has already accepted your works.
8 Let your garments be always white,
and do not let your head lack oil.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your meaningless life, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of futility, for that is your portion in life and in your labor for which you toil under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you are going.
11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time. As the fish that are taken in a cruel net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the sons of men trapped in an evil time, that suddenly falls on them.
Wisdom is Better Than Strength
13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city and few men within it, and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. 15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he, by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man. 16 Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 The words of the wise heard in quiet
are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.