1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
Who can find a virtuous woman? 0:0
Trivia: According to Ecclesiastes, what is better than a dead lion?
9:1-18
1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
Righteous [1] and wise people are in the hand of God.
2All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.
But the same thing happens to us all: we die.
4For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
As long as we live, there is hope.
A living dog is better than a dead lion.
5For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
The living know they will die, but the dead know nothing.
They have no reward, and their memory is forgotten. [2]
6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
All their love, hatred, and envy die with them.
Nothing survives their death.
7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
So eat your bread and drink your wine with a happy heart. [3]
God accepts your works.
8Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
Always wear white clothing.
And put some oil on your head.
9Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
Live joyfully with the wife that you love. [4]
10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
And whatever you do in this life, do it with all your might.
Because there is no work, knowledge, or wisdom in the grave. [5]
11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
The race isn't to the swift, nor the battle for the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to those with understanding, nor good fortune to the skilled; time and chance happen to us all.
12For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
13 This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
For none of us knows when we will die.
Like fish in a net or birds in a snare,
we are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon us.
16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.
Wisdom is better than strength or weapons of war. [6]
18Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
But one bad person can destroy much that is good.
All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked ... they go to the dead. (v.2)
Every Jot and Tittle: All the commandments in the Bible
