Ecclesiastes 9:2-4

Good News Translation

² It makes no difference.^[a] The same fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the bad,^[b] to those who are religious and those who are not, to those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. A good person is no better off than a sinner; one who takes an oath is no better off than one who does not. ³ One fate comes to all alike, and this is as wrong as anything that happens in this world. As long as people live, their minds are full of evil and madness, and suddenly they die. ⁴ But anyone who is alive in the world of the living has some hope; a live dog is better off than a dead lion.