10 For all can see that the wise die,(A)
    that the foolish and the senseless(B) also perish,
    leaving their wealth(C) to others.(D)

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10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

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19 Surely the fate of human beings(A) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.

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Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:19 Or spirit

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

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even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?(A)

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Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?

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It is better to go to a house of mourning
    than to go to a house of feasting,
for death(A) is the destiny(B) of everyone;
    the living should take this to heart.

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It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

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This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.(A) The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live,(B) and afterward they join the dead.(C)

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This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

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11 I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
    or the battle to the strong,(A)
nor does food come to the wise(B)
    or wealth to the brilliant
    or favor to the learned;
but time and chance(C) happen to them all.(D)

12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:

As fish are caught in a cruel net,
    or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times(E)
    that fall unexpectedly upon them.(F)

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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.

12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

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