I have considered all this in my heart,
and concluded that the righteous and the wise,
and all their works are in the hands of God alone.
No man knows whether love or hatred awaits him.
9:2
All things come alike to all. The same fate awaits the righteous
and the wicked, the clean and unclean, the one who sacrifices
and the one who sacrifices not. As is the good man, so is the sinner.
As is he who swears an oath, so is he who shuns oaths.
9:3
This is an evil under the sun, that there is one fate for all.
But then, the hearts of men are also full of evil.
Yea, while they live their hearts are occupied with madness.
Then they die.
9:4
But for all who are alive there is hope.
As they say, “A living dog is better than a dead lion.”
9:5
For the living know they shall die, but the dead know nothing.
Neither have they anymore reward. Even the memory of them is lost.
9:6
Also, their love, and their hatred, and their envy has perished.
They shall no more have a portion in anything under the sun, forever.
9:7
Go your way. Eat your bread with joy. Drink your wine with a glad heart.
For God has already accepted your works.
9:8
Let your garments always be white. Let your head lack no ointment.
9:9
Live joyfully with the wife you love for all the days of your vain life,
which God has given you under the sun – for all the days of your vanity.
That is your portion in this life, and your labor under the sun.
9:10
Whatever you lay your hand to, do it with all your might.
For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom in the grave to which you are headed.
9:11
And again, I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,
nor the battle to the strong. Neither is bread given to the wise,
nor riches to men of intelligence, nor favor to men of skill.
Time and chance happens to them all.
9:12
Man knows not his time. As fish are taken in a net,
as birds are caught in a snare, so is a man caught in an evil moment,
when disaster suddenly befalls him.
9:13
This lesson I have also learned under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
9:14
There was a small city with few men in it. And a great king came against it,
and besieged it, and built great bulwarks around it.
9:15
Now, a poor wise man lived in this city, and by his wisdom alone
he saved the city, yet no one remembered this poor man.
9:16
I have said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Yet, because of his poverty
a poor man's works are forgotten, and his wisdom despised.
9:17
The words of a wise man heard in quiet
are greater than the shouts of a ruler among fools.
9:18
Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner destroys much good.