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The Same Fate—Death—Awaits Everyone

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. 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.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Or “examined”
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Several versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin) insert “and to the bad”
  3. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “evil”
  4. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “the sons of the man”

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