This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.(A) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,(B) and afterward they join the dead.(C) Anyone who is among the living has hope[a]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;(D)
they have no further reward,
    and even their name(E) is forgotten.(F)
Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:4 Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope

This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

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