Ecclesiastes 9:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 Among all the things that are done under the sun, this is the worst, that there is one lot for all. Hence the hearts of human beings are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward—to the dead!
4 For whoever is chosen among all the living has hope: “A live dog[a] is better off than a dead lion.” 5 (A)For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost.
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- 9:4–6 A live dog…no further recompense: human reason and experience persuaded Qoheleth that death with its finality and annihilating power cruelly negates the supreme value—life, and with it, all possibilities (cf. v. 10). Faith in eternal life has its foundation only in hope and trust in God’s promise and in God’s love.
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