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The same fate comes to everyone:

to the righteous and to the wicked,
    to the good and to the wicked,[a]
to the clean and to the unclean,
    to those who sacrifice and to those who do not sacrifice.
As with the good man, so also to the sinner;
    as with those who swear an oath, so also those who fear oaths.
This is the injustice[b] that is done under the sun:
    the same fate comes to everyone.
Also the hearts of humans[c] are full of evil;
    delusion is in their hearts during their lives, and then they die.

Death Deprives Humans of Everything in Life

Whoever is joined[d] to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion!

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:2 Several versions (Greek, Syriac, Latin) insert “and to the bad”
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “evil”
  3. Ecclesiastes 9:3 Literally “the sons of the man”
  4. Ecclesiastes 9:4 The Kethib reads “chosen,” but the Qere as well as all the versions and numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts read “joined”