Death Comes to Good and Bad
So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate. Deu 33:3Jhn 10:27-301Pe 1:5Ecc 7:15Ecc 8:14Job 12:101Sa 2:92Ti 1:12
It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, 1 for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow. Mal 3:18Ecc 2:14-16Job 9:22Mal 3:5Psa 73:3Mal 3:15Ecc 2:26Ecc 6:6
This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead. Jer 17:9Ecc 8:11Ecc 1:17Job 15:16Psa 51:5Rom 1:29-31Tit 3:32Pe 2:16
There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion. Job 14:7-12Isa 38:18Luk 16:26-29Lam 3:21-22Job 27:8 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten. Isa 26:14Ecc 1:11Psa 6:5Psa 88:10-12Heb 9:27Job 14:21Psa 109:15Ecc 2:16 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun. Psa 146:3-4Ecc 6:12Job 3:17-18Mat 2:20Ecc 2:18-23Exo 1:8Pro 10:28
Enjoy Your Portion in This Life
Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works: Ecc 3:12-13Deu 12:7Ecc 10:19Ecc 8:15Ecc 2:24-26Neh 8:10-121Ch 16:1-3Ecc 5:18
Let your garments always be white, Rev 19:14Rev 3:4-5Rev 19:8Rev 7:13-14Rev 16:15Rev 7:92Sa 19:24Dan 10:3
and never spare the oil for your head.
Enjoy life with your beloved wife all the days of the fleeting 2life 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. Pro 5:18-19Ecc 2:10Ecc 6:12Mal 2:15Ecc 3:13Ecc 2:24Ecc 3:22Ecc 5:18 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. Col 3:23Eph 5:16Rom 12:11Psa 6:5Ecc 11:62Ch 31:20-211Co 9:24Jhn 9:4
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. Jer 9:23Pro 21:30-31Lam 3:37-38Job 5:11-14Ecc 3:17Amo 2:14-16Ecc 3:14Psa 147:10-11 For surely no man knows his time: Like fish caught in a cruel net or birds trapped in a snare, so men are ensnared in an evil time that suddenly falls upon them. 1Th 5:3Luk 21:34-36Pro 6:15Ecc 8:5-7Job 18:8-10Luk 12:20Pro 29:6Psa 73:18-20
Wisdom Is Better than Strength
I have also seen this wisdom under the sun, and it was great to me: Ecc 8:16Ecc 6:1Ecc 7:15Ecc 9:11 There was a small city with few men. A mighty king came against it, surrounded it, and built large siege ramps against it. 2Ki 6:242Sa 20:15-22
Now a poor wise man was found in the city, and he saved the city by his wisdom. Yet no one remembered that poor man. Ecc 4:13Gen 40:23Est 6:2-32Sa 20:22Ecc 2:16 And I said, “Wisdom is better than strength, but the wisdom of the poor man is despised, and his words are not heeded.” Ecc 7:19Pro 24:5Pro 21:22Mrk 6:2-31Co 1:26-29Jas 2:2-6Ecc 9:18Jhn 7:47-49
The calm words of the wise are heeded Jas 3:17-18Pro 28:23Isa 42:2Jas 1:201Sa 7:3-6Gen 41:33-40Isa 42:4
over the shouts of a ruler among fools.
Wisdom is better than weapons of war, Jos 7:1Jos 7:11-122Ti 2:16-182Ti 4:3-4Ecc 9:16Jos 7:52Ti 3:8Tit 1:10-11
but one sinner destroys much good.