Ecclesiastes 9:1-3
Modern English Version
A Common Fate
9 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the deeds of the righteous and the wise are in the hand of God. No man knows whether love or hate awaits them; both are before him. 2 The same fate comes to all: There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the evil,[a] for the clean and the unclean, for him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice.
As is the good,
so is the sinner;
he who takes an oath
as he who fears an oath.
3 And this is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that the same event happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are filled with evil, and folly is in their hearts while they have life, and after that they go to the dead.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ecclesiastes 9:2 Evil from Gk. is missing in some Heb. mss.
Ecclesiastes 9:1-3
Lexham English Bible
The Same Fate—Death—Awaits Everyone
9 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. 2 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.
3 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.
Footnotes
- Ecclesiastes 9:1 Or “examined”
- Ecclesiastes 9:2 Several versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin) insert “and to the bad”
- Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “evil”
- Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “the sons of the man”
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