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The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 9 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Death Comes to All

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:1 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:2 - It is the same for all, since the same event happens to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil,[fn] 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:3 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:4 - But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:5 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:6 - 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.

Enjoy Life with the One You Love

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:7 - Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:8 - Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:9 - Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain[fn] 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:10 - Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,[fn] for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Wisdom Better Than Folly

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:11 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:12 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:13 - I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:14 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:15 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:16 - But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:17 - The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:18 - Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew lacks and the evil
The Hebrew term hebel can refer to a “vapor” or “mere breath” (see note on 1:2)
Or finds to do with your might, do it
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras