ris3n's Apologetics Codex
Ecclesiastes 9.3
Page Nav

Passage

Ecclesiastes 9.3

Book: Ecclesiastes · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

There are ads on our codex that pay for hosting and keep the codex free. If you can, please consider whitelisting ris3n.com or allowing scripts to support the work.

Sponsored

Brands, events, influencers advertise here

ASV
  1. For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it be love or hatred, man knoweth it not; all is before them. 2. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not; as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

3. This is an evil in all that is 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.

  1. For to him that is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-5, ASV)
WEB
  1. For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. 2. All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.

3. This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes 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.

  1. For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-5, WEB)
KJV
  1. For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. I considered: Heb. I gave, or, set to my heart 2. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

3. 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.

  1. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5. For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-5, KJV)
YLT
  1. But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, [are] in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole [is] before them. 2. The whole [is] as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath.

3. This [is] an evil among all that hath been done under the sun, that one event [is] to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness [is] in their heart during their life, and after it, unto the dead.

  1. But [to] him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it [is] better than to the dead lion. 5. For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:1-5, YLT)

See this page's graph and discover linked topics

Setting

  • Speaker: Qohelet, "the Preacher" (Ecclesiastes 1:1), traditionally Solomon
  • Audience: readers of Israel's wisdom tradition weighing life "under the sun"
  • Location: Jerusalem, where the Preacher "was king over Israel" (Ecclesiastes 1:12)
  • Time period: traditionally c. 970-930 BC (Solomon's reign); many scholars date the book later, c. 450-200 BC

Theological reading

Qohelet names two evils in one verse. The first is death's indifference: "there is one event unto all," the same miqreh that falls on the righteous and the wicked alike (Ecclesiastes 9:2). The second is moral: "the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live."

The verse uses both Hebrew forms of the word for heart, lev in the first clause and levav in the second, with no difference in meaning. The heart in Hebrew is the seat of thought and will, so the charge is not merely that people do wrong but that the source of their choices is corrupt.

This matches the book's other statements about human nature: "Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20), and "God made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). It also echoes the verdict before the flood, that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). See Original Sin.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.