4. But there is hope for whoever is joined with all the living, since a live dog is better than a dead lion.
5. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything. There is no longer a reward for them because the memory of them is forgotten.
6. Their love, their hate, and their envy have already disappeared, and there is no longer a portion for them in all that is done under the sun.
7. Go, eat your bread with pleasure, and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.
8. Let your clothes be white all the time, and never let oil be lacking on your head.
9. Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life, which has been given to you under the sun, all your fleeting days. For that is your portion in life and in your struggle under the sun.
10. Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.
11. Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, or the battle to the strong, or bread to the wise, or riches to the discerning, or favor to the skillful; rather, time and chance happen to all of them.
12. For man certainly does not know his time: like fish caught in a cruel net or like birds caught in a trap, so people are trapped in an evil time as it suddenly falls on them.
13. I have observed that this also is wisdom under the sun, and it is significant to me: