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The Riddles of Life

15 In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing.(A)

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15 In this meaningless life(A) of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.(B)

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12 Though sinners do evil a hundred times and prolong their lives, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they stand in fear before him,(A) 13 but it will not be well with the wicked, neither will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not stand in fear before God.(B)

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct of the wicked and wicked people who are treated according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.(C)

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12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better(A) with those who fear God,(B) who are reverent before him.(C) 13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God,(D) it will not go well with them, and their days(E) will not lengthen like a shadow.

14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve.(F) This too, I say, is meaningless.(G)

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34 For this reason I send you prophets, sages, and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town, 35 so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

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34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify;(A) others you will flog in your synagogues(B) and pursue from town to town.(C) 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel(D) to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah,(E) whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.(F)

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12 For who knows what is good for mortals while they live the few days of their vain life, which they pass like a shadow? For who can tell them what will be after them under the sun?(A)

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12 For who knows what is good for a person in life, during the few and meaningless days(A) they pass through like a shadow?(B) Who can tell them what will happen under the sun after they are gone?

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For I was envious of the arrogant;
    I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(A)

For they have no pain;
    their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not plagued like other people.(B)
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them like a garment.(C)
Their eyes swell out with fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.(D)
They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.(E)
They set their mouths against heaven,
    and their tongues range over the earth.

10 Therefore the people turn and praise them[a]
    and find no fault in them.[b]
11 And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”(F)
12 Such are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.(G)
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.(H)

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Footnotes

  1. 73.10 Cn: Heb his people return here
  2. 73.10 Cn: Heb abundant waters are drained by them

For I envied(A) the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.(B)

They have no struggles;
    their bodies are healthy and strong.[a]
They are free(C) from common human burdens;
    they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride(D) is their necklace;(E)
    they clothe themselves with violence.(F)
From their callous hearts(G) comes iniquity[b];
    their evil imaginations have no limits.
They scoff, and speak with malice;(H)
    with arrogance(I) they threaten oppression.(J)
Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
    and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
    and drink up waters in abundance.[c]
11 They say, “How would God know?
    Does the Most High know anything?”

12 This is what the wicked are like—
    always free of care,(K) they go on amassing wealth.(L)

13 Surely in vain(M) I have kept my heart pure
    and have washed my hands in innocence.(N)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 73:4 With a different word division of the Hebrew; Masoretic Text struggles at their death; / their bodies are healthy
  2. Psalm 73:7 Syriac (see also Septuagint); Hebrew Their eyes bulge with fat
  3. Psalm 73:10 The meaning of the Hebrew for this verse is uncertain.

Take Life as It Comes

All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them is vanity,[a] since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,[b] to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.2 Syr Compare Gk: Heb Everything that confronts them is everything
  2. 9.2 Gk Syr Vg: Heb lacks and the evil

A Common Destiny for All

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.(A) All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
    so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
    so with those who are afraid to take them.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad.

52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.(A)

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52 Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?(A) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him(B)

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Jeremiah Complains to God

12 You will be in the right, O Lord,
    when I lay charges against you,
    but let me put my case to you.
Why does the way of the guilty prosper?
    Why do all who are treacherous thrive?(A)
You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and bring forth fruit;
you are near in their mouths
    yet far from their hearts.(B)

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Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous,(A) Lord,
    when I bring a case(B) before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:(C)
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?(D)
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
You have planted(E) them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.(F)
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.(G)

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20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.(A)

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20 “Never again will there be in it
    an infant(A) who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not live out his years;(B)
the one who dies at a hundred
    will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach[a] a hundred
    will be considered accursed.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 65:20 Or the sinner who reaches

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun,[a] because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 9.9 Cn: Heb sun, all the days of your vanity

Enjoy life with your wife,(A) whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot(B) in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

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16 This also is a grievous ill: just as they came, so shall they go, and what gain do they have from toiling for the wind?(A) 17 Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much anger and sickness and resentment.(B)

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16 This too is a grievous evil:

As everyone comes, so they depart,
    and what do they gain,
    since they toil for the wind?(A)
17 All their days they eat in darkness,
    with great frustration, affliction and anger.

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Judgment and the Future Belong to God

16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that, in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well.

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16 And I saw something else under the sun:

In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

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23 For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.(A)

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23 All their days their work is grief and pain;(A) even at night their minds do not rest.(B) This too is meaningless.

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