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¹ But all this I have laid to my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred does man know, the whole [is] before them.² The whole [is] as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath.³ This [is] an evil among all that has been done under the sun, that one event [is] to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart during their life, and after it—to the dead.

⁴ But [to] him who is joined to all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it [is] better than to the dead lion.⁵ For the living know that they die, and the dead do not know anything, and there is no more reward to them, for their remembrance has been forgotten.⁶ Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, has already perished, and they have no more portion for all time in all that has been done under the sun.⁷ Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a glad heart, for already has God been pleased with your works.⁸ At all times let your garments be white, and do not let oil be lacking on your head.⁹ See life with the wife whom you have loved, all the days of the life of your vanity, that He has given to you under the sun, all the days of your vanity, for it [is] your portion in life, even of your labor that you are laboring at under the sun.¹⁰ All that your hand finds to do, with your power do, for there is no work, and plan, and knowledge, and wisdom in Sheol to where you are going.

¹¹ I have turned so as to see under the sun, that not to the swift [is] the race, nor to the mighty the battle, nor even to the wise bread, nor even to the intelligent wealth, nor even to the skillful grace, for time and chance happen with them all.¹² For even man does not know his time; as fish that are taken hold of by an evil net, and as birds that are taken hold of by a snare, the sons of man are snared like these at an evil time when it falls on them suddenly.

¹³ This also I have seen: wisdom under the sun, and it is great to me.¹⁴ A little city, and few men in it, and a great king has come to it, and has surrounded it, and has built against it great bulwarks;¹⁵ and there has been found in it a poor wise man, and he has delivered the city by his wisdom, and men have not remembered that poor man!¹⁶ And I said, "Better [is] wisdom than might, and the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard."¹⁷ The words of the wise are heard in quiet, || More than the cry of a ruler over fools.¹⁸ Better [is] wisdom than weapons of conflict, || And one sinner destroys much good!