Ecclesiastes 9:2

It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow.

Berean Standard Bible

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

1So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate.

3This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

Read all of Ecclesiastes 9

Cross References

Genesis 24:3and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,

Joshua 2:17The men said to her, “We will not be bound by this oath you made us swear

Job 9:22It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

Job 21:26But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

Ecclesiastes 2:14The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also came to realize that one fate overcomes them both.

Ecclesiastes 6:6even if he lives a thousand years twice over but fails to enjoy his prosperity. Do not all go to the same place?

Matthew Henry on Ecclesiastes 9:2-4

Mysteries in Providence. 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Ecclesiastes 9:2