Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 9

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 All this I have kept in mind and recognized: the just, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Love from hatred man cannot tell; both appear equally vain,	1 All these things have I considered in my heart, that I might carefully understand them: there are just men and wise men, and their works are in the hand of God: and yet man knoweth not whether he be worthy of love, or hatred:
2 in that there is the same lot for all, for the just and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for him who offers sacrifice and him who does not. As it is for the good man, so it is for the sinner; as it is for him who swears rashly, so it is for him who fears an oath.	2 But all things are kept uncertain for the time to come, because all things equally happen to the just and to the wicked, to the good and to the evil, to the clean and to the unclean, to him that offereth victims, and to him that despiseth sacrifices. As the good is, so also is the sinner: as the perjured, so he also that sweareth truth.
3 Among all the things that happen under the sun, this is the worst, that things turn out the same for all. Hence the minds of men are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts during life; and afterward they go to the dead.	3 This is a very great evil among all things that are done under the sun, that the same things happen to all men: whereby also the hearts of the children of men are filled with evil, and with contempt while they live, and afterwards they shall be brought down to hell.
4 Indeed, for any among the living there is hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.	4 There is no man that liveth always, or that hopeth for this: a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them, because all memory of them is lost.	5 For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know nothing more, neither have they a reward any more: for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 For them, love and hatred and rivalry have long since perished. They will never again have part in anything that is done under the sun.	6 Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy are all perished, neither have they any part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart, because it is now that God favors your works.	7 Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.
8 At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head.	8 At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head.
9 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of the fleeting life that is granted you under the sun. This is your lot in life, for the toil of your labors under the sun.	9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest, all the days of thy unsteady life, which are given to thee under the sun, all the time of thy vanity: for this is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherewith thou labourest under the sun.
10 Anything you can turn your hand to, do with what power you have; for there will be no work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the nether world where you are going....	10 Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly: for neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge shall be in hell, whither thou art hastening.
11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not won by the swift, nor the battle by the valiant, nor a livelihood by the wise, nor riches by the shrewd, nor favor by the experts; for a time of calamity comes to all alike.	11 I turned me to another thing, and 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 learned, nor favour to the skilful: but time and chance in all.
12 Man no more knows his own time than fish taken in the fatal net, or birds trapped in the snare; like these the children of men are caught when the evil time falls suddenly upon them.	12 Man knoweth not his own end: but as fishes are taken with the hook, and as birds are caught with the snare, so men are taken in the evil time, when it shall suddenly come upon them.
13 On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought sublime.	13 This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
14 Against a small city with few men in it advanced a mighty king, who surrounded it and threw up great siegeworks about it.	14 A little city, and few men in it: there came against it a great king, and invested it, and built bulwarks round about it, and the siege was perfect.
15 But in the city lived a man who, though poor, was wise, and he delivered it through his wisdom. Yet no one remembered this poor man.	15 Now there was found in it a man poor and wise, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man afterward remembered that poor man.
16 Though I had said, "Wisdom is better than force," yet the wisdom of the poor man is despised and his words go unheeded.	16 And I said that wisdom is better than strength: how then is the wisdom of the poor man slighted, and his words not heard?
17 "The quiet words of the wise are better heeded than the shout of a ruler of fools"--!	17 The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.
18 "A fly that dies can spoil the perfumer's ointment, and a single slip can ruin much that is good."	18 Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.