⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be ^(A)my treasured possession among all peoples, for ^(B)all the earth is mine; ⁶ and you shall be to me a ^(C)kingdom of priests and ^(D)a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

⁹ Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your ^(A)vain^[a] life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your ^(B)portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. ¹⁰ Whatever your hand finds to do, ^(C)do it with your might,^{[b] (D)}for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Wisdom Better Than Folly

^11 (E)Again I saw that under the sun ^(F)the race is not to the swift, nor ^(G)the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and ^(H)chance ^(I)happen to them all. ¹² For man ^(J)does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and ^(K)like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are ^(L)snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.