--- title: "Ecclesiastes 9 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible" description: "Read Ecclesiastes 9 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knowet" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9" --- [ Read](/kjv/ecclesiastes/9)[ Commentary](/study/ecclesiastes/9)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/ecclesiastes/9) Audio 1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, *are* in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred *by* all *that is* before them.* 2 All *things come* alike to all: *there is* one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as *is* the good, so *is* the sinner; *and* he that sweareth, as *he* that feareth an oath. 3 This *is* an evil among all *things* that are done under the sun, that *there is* one event unto all: yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness *is* in their heart while they live, and after that *they go* to the dead. 4 ¶ For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5 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. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any *thing* that is done under the sun. 7 ¶ Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. 8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that *is* thy portion in *this* life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun.* 10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do *it* with thy might; for *there is* no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. 11 ¶ I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race *is* not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. 12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so *are* the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them. 13 ¶ This wisdom have I seen also under the sun, and it *seemed* great unto me: 14 *There was* a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it: 15 Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. 16 Then said I, Wisdom *is* better than strength: nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom *is* despised, and his words are not heard. 17 The words of wise *men are* heard in quiet more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. 18 Wisdom *is* better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good. [Ecclesiastes 8](/study/ecclesiastes/8) [Ecclesiastes 10](/study/ecclesiastes/10) ## Commentary To verse 1 **For;**or, *therefore*, as the seventy interpreters render it. **All this;**all that I have said concerning the methods of Divine Providence towards good and bad men. **To declare all this;**to make this evident, first to myself, and then to others, as occasion required. **The righteous and the wise;**whom he mentions not exclusively, as if wicked men were not in God’s hand, for the next clause relates both to good and bad men; but eminently, because by the course of God’s providence towards them they might seem to be quite neglected and forsaken by God. **Their works;**either efficiently, all their actions and employments; or objectively, all things done to them, all events which befall them. **Are in the hand of God;**are subject to his power, and governed by his providence, as this phrase is used [Proverbs 21:1](/kjv/proverbs/21/1); [John 3:35](/kjv/john/3/35), compared with [Matthew 28:18](/kjv/matthew/28/18). And therefore although we cannot fully understand the reasons of all God’s works, as he now said, [Ecclesiastes 8:17](/kjv/ecclesiastes/8/17), yet because they are done by his unerring hand, we may be assured that they are done both righteously and justly, and that no man hath cause to murmur at the prosperity of the wicked, or at the calamities of good men. **No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them;**no man can judge by their present and outward conditions or dispensations of God’s providence whether God loves or hates them, for whom he loves he chastens, and permitteth those whom he hates to prosper in the world. And this translation and interpretation agreeth well with the following verse. But I must confess it differs from almost all other, both ancient and modern, translations. And these words with the foregoing clause are translated otherwise, and that word for word according to the Hebrew, *the righteous, and the wise*, *and their works, are in the hand of God; also love and hatred* (understand out of the foregoing clause, *are in God’s hand*. And this may be meant either, 1. Of God’s love and hatred, which he disposeth when, and to whom, and in what manner he pleaseth. Or, 2. Of, men’s love and hatred, *also* their *love* and *their hatred*, the pronoun *their* being repeated out of the former clause, as is frequent in Scripture. And so the sense is, that not only men’s works, as he now said, but even their inward passions or affections, which seem to be most in their own power, are as much in God’s disposal as their outward actions. Then follows the last clause in the same order in which the words lie in the Hebrew text): *no man knoweth all*, or *any thing*, which is before him. Which I thus understand, whereas all men, and all their affections, and actions, and the events of them, are perfectly known to God, and disposed by him, men know nothing, no, not such things as are most plain, and easy, and familiar to them, and can neither foresee the plainest things, nor dispose of the smallest things as they please; but all things are wholly ordered and overruled by God’s providence, not as men imagine or desire, but as he sees fit. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9","name":"Ecclesiastes 9 - Study King James Bible with pooles english annotations on the holy bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Ecclesiastes 9 with pooles english annotations on the holy bible commentary. 1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knowet","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible","name":"pooles english annotations on the holy bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes","name":"Ecclesiastes"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/pooles-english-annotations-on-the-holy-bible/ecclesiastes/9","name":"9"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```