﻿Ecclesiastes.
Chapter 9.
For I took all this to heart and examined it all: The righteous, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether love or hatred awaits; all is before them. 
Everything comes alike to all: One fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean and the unclean, to the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As with the good, so with the sinner; as with the one who swears, so with the one who fears an oath. 
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: One fate comes to all. The heart of mankind is also full of evil, and madness is in their hearts during their lives, and afterward they go to the dead. 
For whoever is joined to the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, for their memory is forgotten. 
Their love, their hatred, and their jealousy have already perished; never again will they have a portion in anything done under the sun. 
Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works. 
Let your garments always be white, and let oil never be lacking on your head. 
Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life that he has given you under the sun, all your fleeting days, for this is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. 
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going. 
Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the skillful, for time and chance happen to them all. 
For man does not know his time. Like fish caught in a cruel net and birds caught in a snare, so mankind is ensnared in a time of calamity when it falls upon them suddenly. 
This wisdom too I saw under the sun, and it seemed great to me: 
There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, surrounded it, and built great siegeworks against it. 
A poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no one remembered that poor man. 
So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,” but the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. 
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good. 
