Ecclesiastes 9:1-6

A Common Destiny for All 1So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them.

2All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, Septuagint (Aquila), Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew does not have and the bad. the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

4Anyone who is among the living has hope Or What then is to be chosen? With all who live, there is hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

5For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten.

6Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.