Ecclesiastes 9:4

Read in context

Ecclesiastes 9:2–6 · Berean Standard Bible

2 It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

3 This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

4 There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.

6 Their love, their hate, and their envy have already vanished, and they will never again have a share in all that is done under the sun.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study Ecclesiastes 9:4

Read the commentary on Ecclesiastes 9

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Job 14:7

For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.

Job 14:8

If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,

Job 14:9

at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling.

Job 14:10

But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?

Job 14:11

As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

Job 14:12

so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.

Job 27:8

For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

Isaiah 38:18

For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:21

Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:

Lamentations 3:22

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail.

Luke 16:26

And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

Luke 16:27

‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house,

Luke 16:28

for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also end up in this place of torment.’

Luke 16:29

But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let your brothers listen to them.’