²⁵ David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”

Death Comes to All

9 But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, ^(A)how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are ^(B)in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. ^2 (C)It is the same for all, since ^(D)the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,^[a] to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who ^(E)swears is as he who shuns an oath. ³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that ^(F)the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and ^(G)madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

Rabbah Is Captured

^26 (A)Now Joab ^(B)fought against ^(C)Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city.

⁹ and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to ^(A)Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not ^(B)his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

⁸ O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and ^(A)cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”

Wisdom Better Than Folly

^11 (A)Again I saw that under the sun ^(B)the race is not to the swift, nor ^(C)the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and ^(D)chance ^(E)happen to them all. ¹² For man ^(F)does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and ^(G)like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are ^(H)snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.