Ecclesiastes 9:2–6

¹⁸Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

¹⁴The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

¹⁵Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

¹⁶For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

²²This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

⁵And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

³For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

¹⁵And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.

²⁶For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.

⁶¶ Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

¹⁸It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all.

²¶ It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

¹²¶ Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

¹³But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.

¹⁸Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.

¹⁹Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head.

³And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:

⁸And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.

⁹And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

⁷Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?

⁸Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

⁹Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹⁰Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

¹²They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

¹³They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

¹⁴Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.

¹⁵What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

¹⁶Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.

¹⁸They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

¹⁹God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

²⁰His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

²¹For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

²²Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.

²³One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.

²⁴His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.

²⁵And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.

²⁶They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

²⁹Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

³⁰That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

³¹Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

³²Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

³⁴How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

¹⁷And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear.

¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee.

¹⁹And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be guiltless: and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon him.

²⁰And if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of thine oath which thou hast made us to swear.

³Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

⁴I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

²⁶And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.

⁹¶ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

¹⁷And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vexation of spirit.

¹⁶How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

⁵Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

³⁰Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

³¹Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

³For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

¹⁶But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

²³And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.

²⁴And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

⁷Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

²⁵I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:

²All things come alike to all: there is 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; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

²¹And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.

¹⁷And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

¹¹And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

²¹For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²²Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

³²The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

¹¹And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

⁵¶ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

²⁰These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

⁷For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

⁸Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

⁹Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

¹⁰But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

¹¹As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

¹²So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

¹⁸For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

²⁶And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

²⁷Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

²⁸For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

²⁹Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

²¹This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

²²¶ It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

⁸For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

¹⁴They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

¹¹There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

⁵For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

¹⁰Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

¹¹Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

²⁷And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

²¹His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.

¹⁶For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.

¹⁰And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity.

¹⁶Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

⁸The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

²¶ It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

³Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

⁴His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

¹²For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.

¹⁸There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

²⁰Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

¹⁸¶ Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me.

¹⁹And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.

²⁰Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.

²¹For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not laboured therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.

²²For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath laboured under the sun?

²³For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This is also vanity.

⁸Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

²⁸The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.