Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 9

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Yes, I have applied myself to all this and experienced all this to be so: that is to say, that the upright andthe wise, with their activities, are in the hands of God. We do not understand either love or hate, where we areconcerned, both of them are	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 futile. And for all of us is reserved a common fate, for the upright and for the wicked, for the good andfor the bad; whether we are ritually pure or not, whether we offer sacrifice or not: it is the same for the good andfor the sinner, for someone who takes a vow, as for someone who fears to do so.	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 This is another evil among those occurring under the sun: that there should be the same fate foreveryone. The human heart, however, is ful of wickedness; fol y lurks in our hearts throughout our lives, until weend among 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 But there is hope for someone stil linked to the rest of the living: better be a live dog 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 The living are at least aware that they are going to die, but the dead know nothing whatever. No morewages for them, since their memory is forgotten.	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 Their love, their hate, their jealousy, have perished long since, and they wil never have any further partin what goes on 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 So, eat your bread in joy, drink your wine with a glad heart, since God has already approved youractions.	7 Go then, and eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with gladness: because thy works please God.
8 At al times, dress in white and keep your head wel scented.	8 At all times let thy garments be white, and let not oil depart from thy head.
9 Spend your life with the woman you love, all the days of futile life God gives you under the sun,throughout your futile days, since this is your lot in life and in the effort you expend 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 Whatever work you find to do, do it with al your might, for there is neither achievement, nor planning,nor science, nor wisdom in Sheol 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 Another thing I have observed under the sun: that the race is not won by the speediest, nor the battleby the champions; it is not the wise who get food, nor the intel igent wealth, nor the learned favour: chance andmischance befall them all.	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 We do not know when our time will come: like fish caught in the treacherous net, like birds caught inthe snare, just so are we al trapped by misfortune when it suddenly overtakes us.	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 Here is another example of the wisdom I have acquired under the sun and it strikes me as important:	13 This wisdom also I have seen under the sun, and it seemed to me to be very great:
14 There was once a smal town, with only a few inhabitants; a mighty king made war on it, laying siege toit and building great siege-works round 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 there was in that town a poverty-stricken sage who by his wisdom saved the town. No oneremembered this poor man afterwards.	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 So I say: Wisdom is more effective than brute force, but the wisdom of a poor man is not valued: noone listens to what he has to say.	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 calm words of the wise make themselves heard above the shouts of someone commanding anarmy of fools.	17 The words of the wise are heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.
18 Wisdom is worth more than weapons of war, but a single sin undoes a deal of good.	18 Better is wisdom, than weapons of war: and he that shall offend in one, shall lose many good things.