Ecclesiastes 9:9-18

⁹Use thou life with the wife which thou lovest, in all the days of the life of thine unstableness, that be given to thee under the sun, in all the time of thy vanity; for this is thy part in thy life and thy travail, by which thou travailest under the sun. (Enjoy thou life with the wife whom thou lovest, in all the days of thy unstable, or thy changing, life, that be given to thee under the sun, in all thy empty and futile time; for this is thy portion in thy life, and thy labour in which thou labourest under the sun.)

¹⁰Work thou busily, whatever thing thine hand may do; for neither work, neither reason, nor knowing, nor wisdom, shall be at hells, whither thou hastest. (Busily work thou, at whatever thy hands can do; for neither work, nor reason, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, be in the land of the dead, where thou hastenest.)

¹¹I turned me to another thing, and I saw under the sun, that running is not of swift men, neither battle is of strong men, neither bread is of wise men, neither riches be of teachers, nor grace is of craftsmen; but time and hap is in all things. (I turned me to another thing, and I saw under the sun, that the race is not always to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to those who teach, or favour to the skilled, but timing and happenstance be to everything.)

¹²A man knoweth not his end; but as fishes be taken with an hook, and as birds be taken with a snare, so men be taken in (an) evil time, when it cometh suddenly up on them.

¹³Also I saw this wisdom under the sun, and I proved it the most.

¹⁴A little city, and few men therein; a great king came against it, and compassed it with pales, and he builded strongholds, either engines, by compass; and the besieging was made perfect. (There was a small city, with only a few people in it; a great king came against it, and surrounded it with posts, and he built strongholds, or bulwarks, all around it; and so the siege was made perfect.)

¹⁵And a poor man and a wise was found therein; and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man bethought afterward on that poor man. (And a poor but wise man was found there; and he saved the city by his wisdom, but afterward no one thought much about that poor man.)

¹⁶And I said, that wisdom is better than strength; how therefore is the wisdom of a poor man despised, and his words be not heard? (And I have always said, that wisdom is better than strength; and so why is the wisdom of a poor man despised, and his words not listened to?)

¹⁷The words of wise men be heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools. (The words of the wise should be heard in silence, much more than the loud cry of a leader of a group of fools.)

¹⁸Better is wisdom than armours of battle; and he that sinneth in one thing, shall lose many goods. (Better is wisdom than the arms, or the weapons, of battle; and he who sinneth in one thing, shall lose much that is good.)