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Death Deprives Humans of Everything in Life

Whoever is joined[a] to all the living has hope. After all, even a live dog is better than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything. They no longer have a reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. What they loved and hated, as well as what they desired, has already perished. They no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:4 The Kethib reads “chosen,” but the Qere as well as all the versions and numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts read “joined”

Anyone who is among the living has hope[a]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;(A)
they have no further reward,
    and even their name(B) is forgotten.(C)
Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:4 Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope