Ecclesiastes 9 - Modern English Version

A Common Fate

¹ All this I took to heart, to examine all these matters, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, no person knows everything that will come before these people.

² The same fate comes to all; there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the evil, for the clean and unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As is the good person, So is the sinful person; As it is for the one who takes an oath, So also for the one who fears an oath.

³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same fate comes to all people. Moreover, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live; after that they go to the place of the dead.

⁴ But for the one 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; they have no more reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

⁶ Their love, hatred, and envy have already perished; they will never again have any share in all that is done under the sun.

⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted your works.

⁸ Let your garments always be white, and never let oil be lacking on your head.

⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun, because that is your reward in life and for your toil, which you perform under the sun.

¹⁰ Whatever your hands find to do, do with your strength; for there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.

¹¹ Again I observed 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 the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.

¹² For no one knows his appointed time. Like fish caught in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so people are ensnared in an evil time, when it suddenly falls on them.

Parables of Wisdom

¹³ I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

¹⁴ There was a small city with a few men in it. A great king came against it, surrounded it, and built great siege works against it.

¹⁵ But a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

¹⁶ So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength; yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heard.”

¹⁷ The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

¹⁸ Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner can destroy much that is good.