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          DASV: Ecclesiastes 9    

1 So I thought about this, examining it all. The righteous
and the wise along with their deeds, are in the hand of God.
Whether it is love or hate, no one knows which is ahead
of them.
2 Everyone shares the same fate,
     the righteous and the wicked,
     the good and the bad,
     the ceremonially clean and unclean,
     the one who sacrifices and the one who does not.
  What happens to the good,
     also happens to the sinner;
   and the same for one who makes a vow,
     as the one who afraid to make a vow.
3 This is a calamity in all that is done under the sun, that
the same fate happens to all. The heart of everyone is full
of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, after
that they too go to the dead.
4 For whoever is joined with the living has hope;
      for a live dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die,
      but the dead know nothing.
  They have no more reward,
     for even the memory of them fades.
6 Their love,
     as well as their hatred and envy
           have already perished;
  never again will they have part in anything
     that happens under the sun.
7 Go your way,
     eat your bread with joy,
     and drink your wine with a happy heart,
           for God has already approved of what you do.
8 Let your garments always be white,
     and let not your head lack oil.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days
of your futile life that God has given you under the sun,
all your futile days. For that is your lot in life and
your laborious vocation under the sun.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your
might, for there is neither work or planning, or knowledge,
or wisdom in the grave where you are going.
11 I again observed under the sun:
     the race is not to the swift,
           or the battle to the strong,
  or bread to the wise,
      or wealth to the intelligent,
           or yet favor to the skillful;
  but time and chance happen to all.
12 For no one knows when his time will come:
     Like fish caught in a fatal net,
           or birds trapped in a snare,
     so are humans snared by evil times,
           when it suddenly falls on them.

13 I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun,
and it seemed significant to me.
14 There was a little city, with few people in it.
A great king came against it, and besieged it, and
built great siege works against it.
15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he
delivered the city by his wisdom; yet no one
remembered that poor man.
16 So I said, "Wisdom is better than strength."
     But a poor man's wisdom is despised,
           and his words are not listened to.
17 Better are the words of the wise heard in quiet
      than the shouts of him who rules over fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
      but one sinner destroys much good.

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