Your fathers, where are they? And (A)the prophets, do they live forever?

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Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

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they are afraid also of what is high, and (A)terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his (B)eternal (C)home, and the (D)mourners go about the streets—

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:5 Or is a burden

when people are afraid of heights
    and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
    and the grasshopper drags itself along
    and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home(A)
    and mourners(B) go about the streets.

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(A)that you should remember the predictions of (B)the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come (C)in the last days with scoffing, (D)following their own sinful desires. (E)They will say, “Where is the promise of (F)his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

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I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets(A) and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.(B)

Above all, you must understand that in the last days(C) scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.(D) They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?(E) Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”(F)

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and (A)the dust returns to the earth as it was, and (B)the spirit returns to God (C)who gave it.

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and the dust returns(A) to the ground it came from,
    and the spirit returns to God(B) who gave it.(C)

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10 But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and (A)where is he?
11 (B)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till (C)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be (D)roused out of his sleep.

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10 But a man dies and is laid low;(A)
    he breathes his last and is no more.(B)
11 As the water of a lake dries up
    or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,(C)
12 so he lies down and does not rise;(D)
    till the heavens are no more,(E) people will not awake
    or be roused from their sleep.(F)

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27 And just as (A)it is appointed for man to die once, and (B)after that comes judgment,

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27 Just as people are destined to die once,(A) and after that to face judgment,(B)

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23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues (A)forever.

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23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.(A)

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36 For David, after he had (A)served the purpose of God in his own generation, (B)fell asleep and (C)was laid with his fathers and saw corruption,

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36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep;(A) he was buried with his ancestors(B) and his body decayed.

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52 The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! (A)Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet (B)you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never (C)taste death.’

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52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed!(A) Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death.

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Death Comes to All

But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, (A)how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are (B)in the hand of God. Whether it is love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. (C)It is the same for all, since (D)the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,[a] to the clean and the unclean, to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one is, so is the sinner, and he who (E)swears is as he who shuns an oath. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that (F)the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and (G)madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew lacks and the evil

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.

A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but (A)the earth remains forever.

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Generations come and generations go,
    but the earth remains forever.(A)

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10 The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span[a] is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 90:10 Or pride

10 Our days may come to seventy years,(A)
    or eighty,(B) if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,(C)
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.(D)

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