Scripture · Old Testament
Ecclesiastes 9:5
Ecclesiastes 9:5 is verse 5 of Ecclesiastes chapter 9, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
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.
King James Version
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.
World English Bible
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.
Read in context
Ecclesiastes 9:3–7 · Berean Standard Bible
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.
7 Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already approved your works:
Read all of Ecclesiastes 9Hebrew words
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Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Ecclesiastes 7:2It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.
Job 30:23Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
Hebrews 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
Job 14:21If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.
Psalms 6:5For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
Psalms 88:10Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Psalms 88:11Can Your loving devotion be proclaimed in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon ?
Isaiah 63:16Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
Ecclesiastes 2:16For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise, just as with the fool, seeing that both will be forgotten in the days to come. Alas, the wise man will die just like the fool!
Ecclesiastes 8:10Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.
Job 7:8The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.
Job 7:9As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.
Job 7:10He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.
Psalms 109:15May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.
Isaiah 26:14The dead will not live; the departed spirits will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them; You have wiped out all memory of them.