Ecclesiastes:9:1-12

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* But all this I laid to heart , examining it all , how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God ; whether it is love or hate man does not know . Everything before them is vanity , * since one fate comes to all , to the righteous and the wicked , to the good and the evil , to the clean and the unclean , to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice . As is the good man , so is the sinner ; and he who swears is as he who shuns an oath . * This is an evil in all that is done under the sun , that one fate comes to all ; also the hearts of men are full of evil , and madness is in their hearts while they live , and after that they go to the dead . * But he who is joined with all the living has hope , for a living dog is better than a dead lion . * For the living know that they will die , but the dead know nothing , and they have no more reward ; but the memory of them is lost . * Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished , and they have no more for ever any share in all that is done under the sun . * Go , eat your bread with enjoyment , and drink your wine with a merry heart ; for God has already approved what you do . * Let your garments be always white ; let not oil be lacking on your head . * Enjoy life with the wife whom you love , all the days of your vain life which he has given you under the sun , because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun . * Whatever your hand finds to do , do it with your might ; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol , to which you are going . * Again 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 riches to the intelligent , nor favor to the men of skill ; but time and chance happen to them all . * For man does not know his time . Like fish which are taken in an evil net , and like birds which are caught in a snare , so the sons of men are snared at an evil time , when it suddenly falls upon them .

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