9 Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting life that God has given you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For this is your portion in life and in your labor under the sun. 10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom. 11 I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor the favor to the skillful. For time and chance happen to all.
Ecclesiastes 9:9–11
Semantically similar passages
Ecclesiastes 8:14–16
14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. 15 So I commended the enjoyment of li…
Ecclesiastes 5:17–19
17 Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger. 18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has give…
Ecclesiastes 3:21–22
21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and the spirit of the animal descends into the earth? 22 I have seen that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will come after him?
Ecclesiastes 11:7–9
7 Light is sweet, and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. 8 So if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many. Everything to come is futile. 9 Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let…
Ecclesiastes 2:23–25
23 Indeed, all his days are filled with grief, and his task is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile. 24 Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. 25 For apart…
Ecclesiastes 1:13–15
13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the… 15 …
Ecclesiastes 3:12–14
12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good while they live, 13 and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can b…
Ecclesiastes 2:10–12
10 Anything my eyes desired, I did not deny myself. I refused my heart no pleasure. For my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to ach…
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