Enjoy Life Despite Death

Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.(A) People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them. Everything is the same for everyone:(B) There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked,(C) for the good and the bad,[a] for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live;(D) after that they go to the dead.

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Footnotes

  1. 9:2 LXX, Aq, Syr, Vg; MT omits and the bad

People Are in the Hand of God

For I have taken all this to my heart, even to [a]examine [b]it all, that righteous people, wise people, and their deeds are (A)in the hand of God. (B)People do not know whether it will be (C)love or hatred; anything [c]awaits them.

(D)It is the same for all. There is (E)one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and the unclean; for the person who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good person is, so is the sinner; the one who swears an oath is just as the one who [d]is afraid to swear an oath. This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun, that there is (F)one fate for everyone. Furthermore, (G)the hearts of the sons of mankind are full of evil, and (H)insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterward they go to the dead.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Or explain
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit all this
  3. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit is before them
  4. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Lit fears an oath