In Context

1 But all this I have laid unto my heart, so as to clear up the whole of this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God, neither love nor hatred doth man know, the whole is before them.

2 The whole is as to the whole; one event is to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, and to him who is sacrificing, and to him who is not sacrificing; as is the good, so is the sinner, he who is swearing as he who is fearing an oath.

3 This is an evil among all that hath been done under the sun, that one event is to all, and also the heart of the sons of man is full of evil, and madness is in their heart during their life, and after it — unto the dead.

4 But to him who is joined unto all the living there is confidence, for to a living dog it is better than to the dead lion.

5 For the living know that they die, and the dead know not anything, and there is no more to them a reward, for their remembrance hath been forgotten.

6 Their love also, their hatred also, their envy also, hath already perished, and they have no more a portion to the age in all that hath been done under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 9:4 in Other Translations