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Ecclesiastes / The Common Destiny of All and the Call to Enjoy Life
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The Common Destiny of All and the Call to Enjoy Life

Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

9
Chapter 9
1 For all this I have given to my heart to examine all this: that the righteous and the wise and their servants are in the hand of God; both love and hatred man does not know, all is before them. 2 Everything is the same for every event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good and to the pure and to the impure and to the one who sacrifices and to the one who does not sacrifice—as to the good, so to the sinner; to the one who swears, as to the one who fears an oath. 3 This is the evil in all that is done under the sun: one chance happens to all, and the heart of the sons of man is full of evil and folly in their heart during their lives, and after that to the dead. 4 For whoever joins with all of Life, there is confidence, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will go to Sheol, but the dead do not know anything, and there is no longer any reward for them, for their memorial is forgotten. 6 Also their love, also their hate, also their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore forever in all that we do under the sun. 7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a good heart, for God has already approved your works. 8 At all times let your garments be white, and let oil on your head not be lacking. 9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vanity which he has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity, for that is your portion in life and in your toil which you toil under the sun. 10 All that your hand finds to do, do with your strength, because there is no deed or account or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. 11 I returned and saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the war to the mighty men, nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning ones, nor favor to the knowing ones, for time and chance happen to all of them. 12 For man also does not know his time, like fish that are caught in an evil net, and like birds that are held in a snare—like them the sons of man are snared at a time of evil when it falls on them suddenly.