Ecclesiastes 9:1-7

1 I thought about all this and tried to understand it. I saw that God controls good people and wise people and what they do, but no one knows if they will experience love or hate.
2 Good and bad people end up the same -- those who are right and those who are wrong, those who are good and those who are evil, those who are clean and those who are unclean, those who sacrifice and those who do not. The same things happen to a good person as happen to a sinner, to a person who makes promises to God and to one who does not.
3 This is something wrong that happens here on earth: What happens to one happens to all. So people's minds are full of evil and foolish thoughts while they live. After that, they join the dead.
4 But anyone still alive has hope; even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
5 The living know they will die, but the dead know nothing. Dead people have no more reward, and people forget them.
6 After people are dead, they can no longer love or hate or envy. They will never again share in what happens here on earth.
7 So go eat your food and enjoy it; drink your wine and be happy, because that is what God wants you to do.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.