Ecclesiastes 9:3 — Meaning and Application

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}

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.

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.

For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.

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.