Ecclesiastes 9:9-11

New Living Translation

⁹Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil. ¹⁰Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave,^[a] there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.

¹¹I have observed something else under the sun. The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives. It is all decided by chance, by being in the right place at the right time.

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Footnotes

9:10 Hebrew to Sheol.

Ecclesiastes 9:9-11

New International Version

⁹Enjoy 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. ¹⁰Whatever^(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)

¹¹I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,^(G)
nor does food come to the wise^(H)
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance^(I) happen to them all.^(J)

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Ecclesiastes 9:9-11

King James Version

⁹Live 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.

¹⁰Whatsoever 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.

¹¹I 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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