1 For I have taken all this to my heart and explain 1Lit all thisit that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are ADeut 33:3; Job 12:10; Ps 119:109in the hand of God. BEccl 10:14Man does not know whether it will be CEccl 9:6love or hatred; anything 2Lit is before themawaits him.

2 AJob 9:22; Eccl 9:11It is the same for all. There is BEccl 2:14; 3:19; 6:6; 7:2one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who 1Lit fears an oathis afraid to swear. 3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is AEccl 9:2; Jer 17:10one fate for all men. Furthermore, BEccl 8:11the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and CEccl 1:17insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. 4 For whoever is joined with all the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know they will die; but the dead AJob 14:21do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their BPs 88:12; Eccl 1:11; 2:16; 8:10; Is 26:14memory is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a AEccl 2:10; 3:22share in all that is done under the sun.

7 Go then, AEccl 2:24; 8:15eat your bread in happiness and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. 8 Let your ARev 3:4clothes be white all the time, and let not BPs 23:5oil be lacking on your head. 9 Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your 1Lit life of vanityAEccl 6:12; 7:15fleeting life which He has given to you under the sun2Heb adds all the days of your vanity; for this is your BEccl 2:10reward in life and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, AEccl 11:6; Rom 12:11; Col 3:23do it with all your might; for there is no BEccl 9:5activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in CGen 37:35; Job 21:13; Is 38:10Sheol where you are going.

11 I again saw under the sun that the AAmos 2:14, 15race is not to the swift and the B2 Chr 20:15; Ps 76:5; Zech 4:6battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor CDeut 8:17, 18wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and D1 Sam 6:9chance overtake them all. 12 Moreover, man does not AEccl 8:7know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and BProv 7:23birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are CProv 29:6; Is 24:18; Hos 9:8ensnared at an evil time when it DLuke 21:34, 35suddenly falls on them.

13 Also this I came to see as wisdom under the sun, and 1Lit great it was to meit impressed me. 14 There A2 Sam 20:16-22was a small city with few men in it and a great king came to it, surrounded it and constructed large siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a AEccl 4:13poor wise man and he 1Or might have delivereddelivered the city B2 Sam 20:22by his wisdom. Yet CEccl 2:16; 8:10no one remembered that poor man. 16 So I said, “AProv 21:22; Eccl 7:12, 19Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words are not heeded. 17 The AEccl 7:5; 10:12words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 AEccl 9:16Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but BJosh 7:1-26; 2 Kin 21:2-17one sinner destroys much good.