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Ecclesiastes 9:9-14
New Living Translation
Ecclesiastes 9:9-14
New Living Translation
9 Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. 10 Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave,[a] there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
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.
12 People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.
Thoughts on Wisdom and Folly
13 Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works. 14 There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 9:10 Hebrew to Sheol.
Ecclesiastes 9:9-14
New International Version
Ecclesiastes 9:9-14
New International Version
9 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. 10 Whatever(C) your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,(D) for in the realm of the dead,(E) where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.(F)
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,(G)
nor does food come to the wise(H)
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance(I) happen to them all.(J)
12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times(K)
that fall unexpectedly upon them.(L)
Wisdom Better Than Folly
13 I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom(M) that greatly impressed me: 14 There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.
New Living Translation (NLT)
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.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.