1Indeed, I took all this to heart and explained it all: The righteous, the wise, and their works are in God’s hands.9:1 Dt 33:3 People don’t know whether to expect love or hate. Everything lies ahead of them.

2Everything is the same for everyone:9:2 Jb 9:22 There is one fate for the righteous and the wicked,9:2 Ec 2:14 for the good and the bad,9:2 LXX, Aq, Syr, Vg; MT omits and the bad for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so also it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who takes an oath, so also for the one who fears an oath.

3This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: there is one fate for everyone. In addition, the hearts of people are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live;9:3 Ec 1:17 after that they go to the dead.

4But there is hope for whoever is joined9:4 Alt Hb tradition reads chosen with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.

5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.9:5 Ec 2:16

6Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.

11Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,9:11 Am 2:14–15 or the battle to the strong,9:11 2Ch 20:15 or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.

12For certainly no one knows his time:9:12 Ec 8:7 like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap,9:12 Pr 7:23 so people are trapped in an evil time9:12 Pr 29:6 as it suddenly falls on them.9:12 Lk 21:34–35