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Death Comes to All
This, too, I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God’s hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor.
This, too, I carefully explored: Even though the actions of godly and wise people are in God’s hands, no one knows whether God will show them favor.
Death Comes to Good and Bad
For all this I laid to my heart and [indeed] to investigate all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; man knoweth neither love nor hatred: all is before them.
For all this I laid to my heart and [indeed] to investigate all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; man knoweth neither love nor hatred: all is before them.
All things [come] alike to all: one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
It seems so wrong that everyone under the sun suffers the same fate. Already twisted by evil, people choose their own mad course, for they have no hope. There is nothing ahead but death anyway.
This is an evil among all that is done under the sun, that one thing befalleth all: yea, also the heart of the children of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live; and after that, [they have to go] to the dead.
There is hope only for the living. As they say, “It’s better to be a live dog than a dead lion!”
For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.
For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
Whatever they did in their lifetime — loving, hating, envying — is all long gone. They no longer play a part in anything here on earth.
Their love also, and their hatred, and their envy is already perished; neither have they any more for ever a portion in all that is done under the sun.
So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!
Enjoy Your Portion in This Life
Go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.
Go, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works.
Wear fine clothes, with a splash of cologne!
Let thy garments be always white, and let not thy head lack oil.
Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.
Enjoy life with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity; for that is thy portion in life, and in thy labour wherein thou art labouring under the sun.
Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to the intelligent, nor yet favour to men of knowledge; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.
For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are taken with the snare, like them are the children of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
Thoughts on Wisdom and Folly
Here is another bit of wisdom that has impressed me as I have watched the way our world works.
Wisdom Better than Strength
This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me.
This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me.
There was a small town with only a few people, and a great king came with his army and besieged it.
There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and encompassed it, and built great bulwarks against it:
A poor, wise man knew how to save the town, and so it was rescued. But afterward no one thought to thank him.
and there was found in it a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city; but no man remembered that poor man.
So even though wisdom is better than strength, those who are wise will be despised if they are poor. What they say will not be appreciated for long.
Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength; but the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
Better to hear the quiet words of a wise person
than the shouts of a foolish king.
than the shouts of a foolish king.
The words of the wise are heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools.