Ecclesiastes 9:4-6

Better to Be Poor but Alive than Rich but Dead

9:4 But whoever is among ¹  the living ²  has hope;

a live dog is better than a dead lion.

9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything;

they have no further reward – and even the memory of them disappears. ³ 

9:6 What they loved, ⁴  as well as what they hated ⁵  and envied, ⁶  perished long ago,

and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth. ⁷ 

[9:4]  ¹ tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “is chosen, selected.” The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), “is joined.” See BDB 288 s.v. חָבַר Pu.

[9:4]  ² tn Heb “all the living.”

[9:5]  ³ tn Heb “for their memory is forgotten.” The pronominal suffix is an objective genitive, “memory of them.”

[9:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “their love.”

[9:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “their hatred.”

[9:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “their envy.”

[9:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “under the sun.”