New American Standard Bible 2020

Ecclesiastes 9

People Are in the Hand of God

1For I have taken all this to my heart, even to 1examine 2it all, that righteous people, wise people, and their deeds are 3in the hand of God. 4People do not know whether it will be 5love or hatred; anything 6awaits them.

2 7It is the same for all. There is 8one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and the unclean; for the person who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good person is, so is the sinner; the one who swears an oath is just as the one who 9is afraid to swear an oath. 3This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun, that there is 10one fate for everyone. Furthermore, 11the hearts of the sons of mankind are full of evil, and 12insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterward they go to the dead. 4For whoever is joined to all the living, there is hope; for better a live dog, than a dead lion. 5For the living know that they will die; but the dead 13do not know anything, nor do they have a reward any longer, for their 14memory is forgotten. 6Indeed their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a 15share in all that is done under the sun.

7Go then, 16eat your bread in happiness, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart; for God has already approved your works. 8See that your 17clothes are white all the time, and that there is no lack of 18oil on your head. 9 19Enjoy life with the wife whom you love all the days of your 20futile life which He has given you under the sun, 21all the days of your futility; for this is your 22reward in life and in your work which you have labored under the sun.

Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do

10Whatever your hand finds to do, 23do it with all your might; for there is no 24activity, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in 25Sheol where you are going.

11I again saw under the sun that the 26race is not to the swift and the 27battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor 28wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the skillful; for time and 29chance overtake them all. 12For indeed, a person does not 30know his time: like fish that are caught in a treacherous net and 31birds caught in a snare, so the sons of mankind are 32ensnared at an evil time when it 33suddenly falls on them.

13This too I saw as wisdom under the sun, and 34it impressed me: 14there 35was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came to it, surrounded it, and constructed large siegeworks against it. 15But there was found in it a 36poor wise man, and he 37saved the city 38by his wisdom. Yet 39no one remembered that poor man. 16So I said, “40Wisdom is better than strength.” But the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are 41ignored. 17The 42words of the wise heard in calm are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. 18 43Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but 44one sinner destroys much good.

Notes

1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Or explain ↩
2. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit all this ↩
3. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Deut 33:3; Job 12:10; Ps 119:109 ↩
4. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Eccl 10:14 ↩
5. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Eccl 9:6 ↩
6. Ecclesiastes 9:1 Lit is before them ↩
7. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Job 9:22; Eccl 9:11 ↩
8. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Eccl 2:14; 3:19; 6:6; 7:2 ↩
9. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Lit fears an oath ↩
10. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Eccl 9:2; Jer 17:10 ↩
11. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Eccl 8:11 ↩
12. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Eccl 1:17 ↩
13. Ecclesiastes 9:5 Job 14:21 ↩
14. Ecclesiastes 9:5 Ps 88:12; Eccl 1:11; 2:16; 8:10; Is 26:14 ↩
15. Ecclesiastes 9:6 Eccl 2:10; 3:22 ↩
16. Ecclesiastes 9:7 Eccl 2:24; 8:15 ↩
17. Ecclesiastes 9:8 Rev 3:4 ↩
18. Ecclesiastes 9:8 Ps 23:5 ↩
19. Ecclesiastes 9:9 Lit See ↩
20. Ecclesiastes 9:9 Eccl 6:12; 7:15 ↩
21. Ecclesiastes 9:9 all...your futility not found in some ancient versions ↩
22. Ecclesiastes 9:9 Eccl 2:10 ↩
23. Ecclesiastes 9:10 Eccl 11:6; Rom 12:11; Col 3:23 ↩
24. Ecclesiastes 9:10 Eccl 9:5 ↩
25. Ecclesiastes 9:10 Gen 37:35; Job 21:13; Is 38:10 ↩
26. Ecclesiastes 9:11 Amos 2:14, 15 ↩
27. Ecclesiastes 9:11 2 Chr 20:15; Ps 76:5; Zech 4:6 ↩
28. Ecclesiastes 9:11 Deut 8:17, 18 ↩
29. Ecclesiastes 9:11 1 Sam 6:9 ↩
30. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Eccl 8:7 ↩
31. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Prov 7:23 ↩
32. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Prov 29:6; Is 24:18; Hos 9:8 ↩
33. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Luke 21:34, 35 ↩
34. Ecclesiastes 9:13 Lit it was great to me ↩
35. Ecclesiastes 9:14 2 Sam 20:16-22 ↩
36. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Eccl 4:13 ↩
37. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Or might have saved ↩
38. Ecclesiastes 9:15 2 Sam 20:22 ↩
39. Ecclesiastes 9:15 Eccl 2:16; 8:10 ↩
40. Ecclesiastes 9:16 Prov 21:22; Eccl 7:12, 19 ↩
41. Ecclesiastes 9:16 Lit not listened to ↩
42. Ecclesiastes 9:17 Eccl 7:5; 10:12 ↩
43. Ecclesiastes 9:18 Eccl 9:16 ↩
44. Ecclesiastes 9:18 Josh 7:1-26; 2 Kin 21:2-17 ↩

People Are in the Hand of God

Whatever Your Hand Finds to Do

Notes

Commentaries on Ecclesiastes 9