Parallel Bible results for "ecclesiastes 9"

Ecclesiastes 9

Good News Translation GNT

1 I thought long and hard about all this and saw that God controls the actions of wise and righteous people, even their love and their hate. No one knows anything about what lies ahead.

2 It makes no difference. The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad, to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not.

3 One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die.

4 But anyone who is alive in the world of the living has some hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

5 Yes, the living know they are going to die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward; they are completely forgotten.

6 Their loves, their hates, their passions, all died with them. They will never again take part in anything that happens in this world.

7 Go ahead - eat your food and be happy; drink your wine and be cheerful. It's all right with God.

8 Always look happy and cheerful.

9 Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble.

10 Work hard at whatever you do, because there will be no action, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom in the world of the dead - and that is where you are going.

11 I realized another thing, that in this world fast runners do not always win the races, and the brave do not always win the battles. The wise do not always earn a living, intelligent people do not always get rich, and capable people do not always rise to high positions. Bad luck happens to everyone.

12 You never know when your time is coming. Like birds suddenly caught in a trap, like fish caught in a net, we are trapped at some evil moment when we least expect it.

13 There is something else I saw, a good example of how wisdom is regarded in this world.

14 There was a little town without many people in it. A powerful king attacked it. He surrounded it and prepared to break through the walls.

15 Someone lived there who was poor, but so clever that he could have saved the town. But no one thought about him.

16 I have always said that wisdom is better than strength, but no one thinks of the poor as wise or pays any attention to what they say.

17 It is better to listen to the quiet words of someone wise than to the shouts of a ruler at a council of fools.

18 Wisdom does more good than weapons, but one sinner can undo a lot of good.

World English Bible WEB

1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn't know it; all is before them.

2 All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn't sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don't know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.

7 Go your way -- eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

8 Let your garments be always white, and don't let your head lack oil.

9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.

12 For man also doesn't know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.

13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.

14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.

15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.

16 Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.

17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.

18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.