Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Topics Parallel Interlinear Reference Dictionary Search
OET By Document By Section By Chapter Details
OET GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1SA 2SA PSA AMOS HOS 1KI 2KI 1CH 2CH PRO ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL YHN MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC GAL 1TH 2TH 1COR 2COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1TIM TIT 1PET 2PET 2TIM HEB YUD 1YHN 2YHN 3YHN REV
ECC Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12
9 Indeed I set my mind to examine all this
and concluded that godly and wise people and their work is in God’s hands.
Being loved or being hated, humankind doesn’t know what’s ahead of them.
2 We all have the same fate whether godly or wicked,
or good or pure or impure,
whether you sacrifice or not,
or you’re good or disobedient,
or you make a promise or you’re the subject of a promise.
3 There’s evil in everything that’s done in this world:
that same final event for everyone.
Yes, humankind’s minds are full of evil and madness during their lifetimes,
and after that they join the dead.
4 Anyone who’s joined to the living has hope,
because a dog that’s alive is better than a lion that’s dead,
5 because the living know that we’ll die
but the dead don’t know anything
and have no further reward because their memory is forgotten.
6 Their love and hatred and their envy will have already perished,
and they no longer have a part in everything that’s done in this world.
7 So go and enjoy eating your food and drinking your wine
because God has already approved what you’ve been doing.
8 Always let your clothes be clean and white,
and don’t spare the use of lotion on your head.
9 Live together with the wife that you love
for all the length of your pointless life that you’re given in this world,
because that’s your allocation in your life
and in the work that you’re doing in this world.
10 Everything that you find to do, do it well,
because in the grave where you’ll be going,
there’s no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
that the fastest ones don’t always win the race,
the most powerful side doesn’t always win the war,
wise people don’t always have enough to eat,
intelligent people don’t always get wealthy,
and people with understanding don’t always win favour,
because chance and timing affects them all.
12 You see, humanity doesn’t know when their time is about to be up:
just like a fish getting caught in a deadly net,
or birds that get caught in a trap,
so too people can get caught out when trouble suddenly hits them.
13 I also saw this about wisdom in this world
and found it powerful: 14 There was a small walled city with not so many inhabitants and a powerful king decided to attack it so he surrounded it and built large siege ramps against the walls. 15 There was a poor man in the city who was wise and used his wisdom to save it from that king, but the people soon forgot about that poor man. 16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than strength and yet the poor person’s wisdom wasn’t appreciated and his words were soon forgotten.
17 The words of wise people are quietly heeded—
more than those of a ruler shouting at a bunch of fools.
18 It’s better to be wise than to have many weapons,
but one disobedient person will destroy a lot of good.