Ecclesiastes 9:1-12

A Common Destiny for All

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.

2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,^[a] 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.

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.

4 Anyone who is among the living has hope^[b] —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

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.

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.

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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Ecclesiastes 9:1-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ECCLESIASTES 9

Though the wise man, with all his wisdom, search, and labour, could not find out the causes and reasons of divine Providence, in the branches and methods of it; yet some things he did find out, and observe, in making this inquiry, and which he declares; as that good and wise men, more especially their persons and their affairs, were in the hand of God, under his guidance, government, and direction; and that an interest in his love and hatred was not to be known by the outward estate of men, Ec 9:1; That the same events happen to good and bad men, who are variously described; that the hearts of wicked men are full of sin and madness as long as they live, and that they all must and do die, Ec 9:2,3; and then the state of such dead is described, as being without hope, knowledge, reward, or memory; and without love, hatred, or envy, or any portion in the things of this life, Ec 9:4-6. Wherefore good men are advised to live cheerfully, in a view of acceptance with God, both of persons and services; and eat and drink, and clothe well, according to their circumstances, and enjoy their friends and families; since nothing of this kind can be done in the grave, Ec 9:7-10. Then the wise man observes another vanity; that success in undertakings is not always to persons who bid fair, and might hope for it, but looks like the effect of chance, Ec 9:11; which want of success is often owing to their ignorance of the proper time of doing things, and to their want of foresight, thought, and care, to prevent evils; for which reason they are compared to fishes and birds, taken in a net or snare, Ec 9:12. And concludes with a commendation of wisdom, illustrated by an example of it, in a certain person that delivered a city by it, Ec 9:13-15; and though the man's wisdom was despised, yet it is preferable to strength, or weapons of war, or the noise of a foolish ruler, who destroys much good, Ec 9:16-18.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 24

1. Deuteronomy 33:3; Job 12:10; Ecclesiastes 10:14
2. Job 9:22; Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 6:6; Ecclesiastes 7:2
3. S Job 9:22; S Ecclesiastes 2:14
4. Jeremiah 11:8; Jeremiah 13:10; Jeremiah 16:12; Jeremiah 17:9
5. S Job 21:26
6. S Job 14:21
7. S Psalms 9:6
8. S Ecclesiastes 1:11; Ecclesiastes 2:16; Isaiah 26:14
9. S Job 21:21
10. S Numbers 6:20
11. S Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 8:15
12. Psalms 23:5; S Revelation 3:4
13. S Proverbs 5:18
14. S Job 31:2
15. S 1 Samuel 10:7
16. Ecclesiastes 11:6; Romans 12:11; Colossians 3:23
17. Numbers 16:33; S Psalms 6:5; Isaiah 38:18
18. S Ecclesiastes 2:24
19. Amos 2:14-15
20. Job 32:13; Isaiah 47:10; Jeremiah 9:23
21. Ecclesiastes 2:14
22. S Deuteronomy 8:18
23. S Proverbs 29:6
24. S Psalms 73:22; S Ecclesiastes 2:14; Ecclesiastes 8:7

Footnotes 2

[a]. Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have "and the bad."
[b]. Or "What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope"