Ecclesiastes or Preacher 09 The same things happen to the righteous and the unrighteous. Let us enjoy the good things God gives.

 Ecclesiastes or Preacher 09

The same things happen to the righteous and the unrighteous. Let us enjoy the good things God gives.

1 I have turned all these things over in my heart, that I may understand it clearly: that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, and that man knows neither love nor hate; everything passes before his face.

2 Everything happens alike to everyone; the same happens to the righteous and the wicked; to the good and the clean as well as to the unclean; to the one who sacrifices as well as to the one who does not sacrifice; to the good as well as to the sinner; to the one who swears as to the one who fears an oath.

3 This is the evil that is in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all; that the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; that madness is in their hearts even in their lifetime, and that afterward they go to the dead. 

4 Now there is hope for him who keeps company with all the living, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them has been forgotten.

6 Their love, their hatred, and their envy have already perished, and they have no more share in anything that is done under the sun.

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

8 Let your clothing be white at all times, and let oil not be lacking on your head.

9 Live with the wife you love all the days of your vain life, which God has given you under the sun, all the days of your vanity; for this is your portion in life and in your labor that you have done under the sun. 

10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.