1
So 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.
2
All share a common destiny - the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, 1 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.
3
This 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.
4
Anyone who is among the living has hope 2 - even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
5
For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even their name is forgotten.
6
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.