Ecclesiastes 2:14
New Living Translation
14 For the wise can see where they are going, but fools walk in the dark.” Yet I saw that the wise and the foolish share the same fate.
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Proverbs 17:24
New Living Translation
24 Sensible people keep their eyes glued on wisdom,
but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.
Psalm 49:10
New Living Translation
10 Those who are wise must finally die,
just like the foolish and senseless,
leaving all their wealth behind.
Ecclesiastes 9:11
New Living Translation
11 I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.
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1 John 2:11
New Living Translation
11 But anyone who hates a fellow believer is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.
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Ecclesiastes 9:1-3
New Living Translation
Death Comes to All
9 This, too, I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God’s hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor. 2 The same destiny ultimately awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad,[a] ceremonially clean or unclean, religious or irreligious. Good people receive the same treatment as sinners, and people who make promises to God are treated like people who don’t.
3 It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate. Already twisted by evil, people choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway.
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- 9:2 As in Greek and Syriac versions and Latin Vulgate; Hebrew lacks or bad.
Ecclesiastes 3:19
New Living Translation
19 For people and animals share the same fate—both breathe[a] and both must die. So people have no real advantage over the animals. How meaningless!
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- 3:19 Or both have the same spirit.
Ecclesiastes 10:2-3
New Living Translation
2 A wise person chooses the right road;
a fool takes the wrong one.
3 You can identify fools
just by the way they walk down the street!
Ecclesiastes 9:16
New Living Translation
16 So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.
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Ecclesiastes 8:1
New Living Translation
8 How wonderful to be wise,
to analyze and interpret things.
Wisdom lights up a person’s face,
softening its harshness.
Ecclesiastes 7:2
New Living Translation
2 Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
After all, everyone dies—
so the living should take this to heart.
Ecclesiastes 6:6
New Living Translation
6 He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else—well, what’s the use?
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Proverbs 14:8
New Living Translation
8 The prudent understand where they are going,
but fools deceive themselves.
Psalm 19:10
New Living Translation
10 They are more desirable than gold,
even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the comb.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.