Ecclesiastes 9

I thought about all of this and looked into all of it, and this is what I concluded: the righteous and the wise, and everything they do, are in God's hands. No one can tell, from anything that lies ahead, whether love or hate is waiting for him.

1For 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.

NoteThe last clause is compressed in Hebrew and can be read two ways: that no one knows whether love or hate lies ahead of him in the future, or that no one can tell, from anything he can see, whether God regards him with love or hate. The King James "by all that is before them" leaves both open, as does the rendering.

2The same thing happens to everyone. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked, for the good, for the clean and for the unclean, for the one who offers sacrifices and the one who does not. It is the same for the good person as for the sinner, and the same for the one who makes a vow as for the one who is afraid to make one.

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.

Note"Clean" and "unclean" are ritual terms, not moral or hygienic ones. Under Israel's law, things like contact with a corpse, certain illnesses, or certain foods made a person temporarily unfit to take part in worship until a set procedure restored them. "The one who offers sacrifices and the one who does not" draws a similar line between the religiously observant and the neglectful. A vow was a promise sworn in God's name, so "the one who is afraid to make one" (King James "he that feareth an oath") is the more scrupulous of the pair, avoiding an oath rather than risking breaking it. The "one fate" shared by all these opposites is death.

3This is an evil in everything that is done here on earth: one fate comes to everyone. On top of that, people's hearts are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and after that they join the dead.

3This 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.

4Anyone who is still among the living has hope. Even a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

4For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

NoteIn ancient Israel dogs were half-wild scavengers rather than pets, and calling someone a dog was an insult; the lion was the standard image of strength and nobility. The proverb is deliberately jarring: the most despised animal alive is better off than the most admired one dead.

5The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all. They have no more wages coming to them, because even the memory of them is forgotten.

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.

NoteThe word behind "wages" (King James "reward") is the ordinary term for a hired worker's pay, what is still owed to someone for their labor.

6Their love, their hate, and their jealousy are already gone. They will never again have any share in anything that is done here on earth.

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.

Note"Share" translates a Hebrew word for an allotted portion, like a share of land or of an inheritance, what is assigned to you and is yours. The same word returns in verse 9.

7So go ahead: eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a glad heart, for God has already accepted what you do.

7Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

8Always wear white clothes, and never let your head go without oil.

8Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.

NoteWhite clothes and oil rubbed on the head were the marks of a festive occasion in the ancient Near East: what you wore and did to go to a feast. Mourners did the opposite, dark or torn clothing and no oil. The instruction is to go through life dressed for a celebration.

9Enjoy life with the wife you love, through all the days of your brief life that God has given you here on earth, all your brief days. That is your share in this life, and in the work you do under the sun.

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.

Note"Brief life" translates the Hebrew word hevel, which the King James renders "vanity" throughout Ecclesiastes. It literally means a breath or a puff of vapor, something fleeting and impossible to get hold of, rather than "pointless" in the modern sense. The Hebrew for "the wife you love" has no definite article and could equally be read "a wife whom you love."

10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your strength. In the grave, where you are going, there is no work, no planning, no knowledge, and no wisdom.

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.

Note"The grave" translates Sheol, the Hebrew name for the underworld, the place beneath the earth where the dead were understood to go, everyone alike, without distinction. It is not the later idea of hell as a place of punishment; it is simply the realm of the dead.

11I looked again at what happens here on earth. The race does not always go to the fast, or the battle to the strong. Food does not always go to the wise, riches to the clever, or favor to the skilled. Time and chance happen to them all.

11I 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.

Note"Chance" translates a Hebrew word meaning an occurrence, something that happens to meet you. It does not carry the modern sense of luck as a force that governs events. Paired with "time," it means the unforeseeable moment that overtakes a person.

12No one knows when his time will come. Like fish caught in a cruel net, or birds caught in a trap, people are trapped by an evil time that falls on them suddenly.

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.

Note"His time" here means the moment when disaster or death falls on him, not the length of his life. The "cruel net" (King James "evil net") is the net from the fish's point of view: the thing that catches it without warning.

13I also saw this example of wisdom here on earth, and it seemed great to me.

13This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it seemed great unto me:

14There was a small city with only a few men in it. A powerful king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege works up against it.

14There 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:

NoteSiege works (King James "bulwarks") were ramps of earth and timber towers heaped against a city wall so attackers could climb over it or bring battering rams up to it. Building them announced a long, methodical siege that a small town had no realistic way to survive.

15In that city there lived a poor wise man, and by his wisdom he saved the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.

15Now 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.

NoteThe Hebrew verbs can be read as completed fact: he did save the city, or as unrealised possibility: he could have saved it, had anyone listened. The next verse, where the poor man's words go unheard, keeps both readings live. "No one remembered that poor man" can likewise mean that no one thought of him at the time, or that no one remembered him afterwards.

16So I said, wisdom is better than strength. Even so, the poor man's wisdom is looked down on, and nobody listens to what he says.

16Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17The quiet words of wise men are listened to more than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

17The words of wise men are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.

NoteThe contrast is between words spoken and received calmly, and a ruler shouting to be heard. The Hebrew can mean either "a ruler among fools" or "a ruler of fools."

18Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

18Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.