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The Blue Letter Bible

Ecclesiastes 9 :: New International Version (NIV)

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A Common Destiny for All

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:1 - So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:2 - All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,[fn] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:3 - This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:4 - Anyone who is among the living has hope[fn]—even a live dog is better off 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; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:6 - Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:7

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

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:8 - Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:9 - Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor 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 all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:11 - I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:12 - Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

Wisdom Better Than Folly

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:13 - I also saw under the sun this example of wisdom that greatly impressed me:

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:14 - There was once a small city with only a few people in it. And a powerful king came against it, surrounded it and built huge siege works against it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:15 - Now there lived in that city a man poor but wise, and he saved the city by his wisdom. But nobody remembered that poor man.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:16 - So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” But the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are no longer heeded.

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Unchecked Copy Box Ecc 9:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEcc 9:17 - The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of 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 NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad.
Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope
NIV

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

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

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Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard 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