Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 9

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 I have drawn all these things through my heart, so that I might carefully understand. There are just men as well as wise men, and their works are in the hand of God. And yet a man does not know so much as whether he is worthy of love or of 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 in the future remain uncertain, because all things happen equally to the just and to the impious, to the good and to the bad, to the pure and to the impure, to those who offer sacrifices and to those who despise sacrifices. As the good are, so also are sinners. As those who commit perjury are, so also are those who swear to the 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 burden among all things that are done under the sun: that the same things happen to everyone. And when the hearts of the sons of men are filled with malice and contempt in their lives, afterwards they shall be dragged 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 one who lives forever, or who even has confidence in this regard. 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 themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. 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 Likewise, love and hatred and envy have all perished together, nor have they any place in this age and in the work which 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 So then, go and eat your bread with rejoicing, and drink your wine with gladness. For your works are pleasing to God.
8 At all times let your garments be white, and spare not the perfume for your head.	8 Let your garments be white at all times, and let not oil be absent from your 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 Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your uncertain life which have been given to you under the sun, during all the time of your vanity. For this is your portion in life and in your labor, with which you labor 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 Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in death, toward which you are hurrying.
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 myself toward 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 wealth to the learned, nor grace to the skilful: but there is a time and an end for all these things.
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 does not know his own end. But, just as fish are caught with a hook, and birds are captured with a snare, so are men seized in the evil time, when it will suddenly overwhelm them.
13 On the other hand I saw this wise deed under the sun, which I thought sublime.	13 This wisdom, likewise, I have seen under the sun, and I have examined it intensely.
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 There was a small city, with a few men in it. There came against it a great king, who surrounded it, and built fortifications all around it, and the blockade was completed.
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 And there was found within it, a poor and wise man, and he freed the city through his wisdom, and nothing was recorded afterward of 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 so, I declared that wisdom is better than strength. But how is it, then, that the wisdom of the poor man is treated with contempt, and his words are not heeded?
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 so than the outcry of a prince among the foolish.
18 "A fly that dies can spoil the perfumer's ointment, and a single slip can ruin much that is good."	18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war. And whoever offends in one thing, shall lose many good things.