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For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath. This is an evil in all that is 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.

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The Same Fate—Death—Awaits Everyone

So all this I laid to my heart, and I concluded[a] that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in the hand of God. So no one knows anything that will come to them, whether it will be love or hatred. The same fate comes to everyone:

to the righteous and to the wicked,
    to the good and to the wicked,[b]
to the clean and to the unclean,
    to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice.
As with the good man, so also to the sinner;
    as with those who swear an oath, so also those who fear oaths.
This is the injustice[c] that is done under the sun:
    the same fate comes to everyone.
Also the hearts of humans[d] are full of evil;
    delusion is in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Or “examined”
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Several versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin) insert “and to the bad”
  3. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “evil”
  4. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “the sons of the man”

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)

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.(C) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,(D) and afterward they join the dead.(E)

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Footnotes

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