Ecclesiastes/Qohelet 9

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 one who lives forever, or who even has confidence in this regard. 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 themselves will die, yet truly the dead know nothing anymore, nor do they have any recompense. 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 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 So, eat your bread in joy, drink your wine with a glad heart, since God has already approved youractions.	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 al times, dress in white and keep your head wel scented.	8 Let your garments be white at all times, and let not oil be absent from your 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Here is another example of the wisdom I have acquired under the sun and it strikes me as important:	13 This wisdom, likewise, I have seen under the sun, and I have examined it intensely.
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 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 there was in that town a poverty-stricken sage who by his wisdom saved the town. No oneremembered this poor man afterwards.	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 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 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 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 so than the outcry of a prince among the foolish.
18 Wisdom is worth more than weapons of war, but a single sin undoes a deal of good.	18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war. And whoever offends in one thing, shall lose many good things.