Ecclesiastes 9:9-11
Christian Standard Bible
9 Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting[a] life,(A) which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle(B) under the sun. 10 Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength,(C) because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom(D) in Sheol where you are going.
The Limitations of Wisdom
11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift,(E) or the battle to the strong,(F) or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.
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- 9:9 Or futile
Ecclesiastes 9:9-11
New International Version
9 Enjoy life with your wife,(A) whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot(B) in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever(C) your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,(D) for in the realm of the dead,(E) where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.(F)
11 I have seen something else under the sun:
Ecclesiastes 9:9-11
King James Version
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
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