Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatever your hand is able to do, do it earnestly. For neither work, nor reason, nor wisdom, nor knowledge will exist in death, toward which you are hurrying.

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

9Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your uncertain life which have been given to you under the sun, during all the time of your vanity. For this is your portion in life and in your labor, with which you labor under the sun.

11I turned myself toward another thing, and I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the learned, nor grace to the skillful: but there is a time and an end for all these things.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 9

Cross References

1 Samuel 10:7Therefore, when these signs will have happened to you, do whatever your hand will find, for the Lord is with you.

1 Chronicles 28:20David also said to his son Solomon: “Act manfully, and be strengthened, and carry it out. You should not be afraid, and you should not be dismayed. For the Lord my God will be with you, and he will not send you away, nor will he abandon you, until you have perfected the entire work of the ministry of the house of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 31:20Therefore, Hezekiah did all these things (which we have said) in all of Judah. And he worked what is good and upright and true before the Lord his God,

Nehemiah 2:12And I got up in the night, I and a few men with me. And I did not reveal to anyone what God had placed in my heart to do in Jerusalem. And there was no animal with me, except the animal on which I was sitting.

Nehemiah 4:6And so we built the wall, and we joined it together, even to the unfinished portion. And the heart of the people was stirred up for the work.

Nehemiah 4:17As for those building the wall, and carrying the burdens, and setting things in place: one of his hands was doing the work, and the other was holding a sword.

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 9:5-11

The Consequences of Death; The Proper Enjoyment of Life. 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 9:10