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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”

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