But all this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous
and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God. Whether it is
love or hate, man does not know; both are before him. It is the
same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the
wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to
him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As the good one
is, so is the sinner, and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath.
This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same
event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are
full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and
after that they go to the dead. But he who is joined with all the
living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For
the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and
they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and
forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun.
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry
heart, for God has already approved what you do.
Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your
head.
Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain
life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your
portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is
no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you
are going.
Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor
the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the
intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance
happen to them all. For man does not know his time. Like fish that
are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a
snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it
suddenly falls upon them.
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it
seemed great to me. There was a little city with few men in it, and
a great king came against it and besieged it, building great
siegeworks against it. But there was found in it a poor, wise man,
and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that
poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the
poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.
The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting
of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but
one sinner destroys much good.
