(KJV) Ecclesiastes 9¹

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⥃Death Comes to Good and Bad

[1] For all this I considered in my heart² even to declare all this, that the³ righteous, and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God: no man⁴ knoweth either love or hatred [by] all [that is] before them. [2] All [things come] alike⁵ 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 [is⁶] the good, so [is] the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as [he] that feareth⁷ an oath. [3] This [is] an evil among all [things] that are done under the sun, that [there is] one event unto all: yea, also⁸ the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness⁹ [is] in their heart while they live, and after¹⁰ that [they go] to the dead.

[4] For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.¹¹ [5] For the living¹² know that they shall die: but the dead¹³ know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the¹⁴ memory of them is forgotten. [6] Also their love¹⁵, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they¹⁶ any more a portion for ever in any [thing] that is done under the sun.

⥃Enjoy Your Portion in This Life

[7] [¶]Go¹⁷ thy way, eat¹⁸ thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for¹⁹ God now accepteth thy works. [8] Let thy garments²⁰ be always white; and let thy head²¹ lack no ointment. [9] Live joyfully²² with the wife²³ whom thou lovest all the days of the life²⁴ of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for²⁵ that [is] thy portion in [this] life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. [10] Whatsoever thy hand²⁶ findeth to do, do [it] with thy might; for²⁷ [there is] no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

[11] I returned²⁸, and saw under the sun, that the race²⁹ [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; but³⁰ time and chance happeneth to them all. [12] For man³¹ also knoweth not his time: as the fishes³² that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so [are] the sons³³ of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

⥃Wisdom Is Better than Strength

[13] This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it [seemed] great unto me:³⁴ [14] [There was³⁵] 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; yet³⁶ no man remembered that same poor man. [16] Then said I, Wisdom³⁷ [is] better than strength: nevertheless the poor³⁸ 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.³⁹ [18] Wisdom [is] better⁴⁰ than weapons of war: but one sinner⁴¹ destroyeth much good.

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