Ecclesiastes · Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
Ecclesiastes 9 Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
Audio: Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA), read by Joyfull · About the recordings
ONBV Biblica Open New Living Bible (Nueva Biblia Viva 2008)
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 También investigué minuciosamente esto: que los justos y los sabios dependen de la voluntad de Dios; nadie sabe si Dios los favorecerá o no. Es cosa de azar.
1 For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them.
2 Buenos y malos, religiosos y descreídos, blasfemos y justos, tienen el mismo final. Parece muy injusto que sea igual el destino de todos. Por eso es que los humanos no se preocupan más del bien, sino que eligen su camino de locura, pues no tienen esperanza; al fin y al cabo lo único que les espera es la muerte.
2 All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath.
3 Not in this translation
3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yes 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 Sólo para los vivientes hay esperanza. ¡Más vale perro vivo que león muerto!
4 For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 Pues los que viven saben por lo menos que han de morir. Pero los muertos nada saben, ni siquiera tienen memoria.
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.
6 Todo lo que hayan hecho en vida —amar, odiar, envidiar— es cosa remota y ellos ya en nada participan aquí en la tierra.
6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun.
7 ¡Adelante, pues; come, bebe y alégrate; pues Dios ya se ha agradado de tus obras!
7 Go your way—eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.
8 Usa buena ropa y un poquito de perfume.
8 Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.
9 Date buena vida con la mujer que amas en los fugaces días de la vida, pues la esposa que Dios te da es la mejor recompensa por tu trabajo aquí en la tierra.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity, for that is your portion in life, and in your labor in which you labor under the sun.
10 Haz bien todo lo que emprendas, porque en la muerte, a la cual vas, no hay trabajo, planes, saber ni entendimiento.
10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.
11 Volví a mirar por toda la tierra y descubrí que no siempre el más veloz gana la carrera, ni el más fuerte la batalla; que los sabios suelen ser pobres y los hombres diestros no son por fuerza famosos; todo es cuestión de suerte; de estar en el sitio adecuado en el momento oportuno.
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 favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Nunca sabe el ser humano cuándo le vendrá la mala suerte. Es como pez en la red o ave en el lazo.
12 For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.
13 Hay algo más que me ha impresionado profundamente al observar los sucesos humanos:
13 I have also seen wisdom under the sun in this way, and it seemed great to me.
14 había un pueblo pequeño con pocos habitantes; llegó un rey y lo cercó.
14 There was a little city, and few men within it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it.
15 Había en la ciudad un sabio muy pobre, que sabía lo que debía hacerse para salvar la ciudad, y eso la libró. Pero después nadie se acordó más de él.
15 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man.
16 Entonces me di cuenta de que si bien la sabiduría es mejor que la fuerza, si el sabio es pobre, será menospreciado y no se apreciará lo que diga.
16 Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 Pero aun así, las serenas palabras del sabio son mejores que los clamores del rey de los necios.
17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools.
18 La sabiduría es mejor que el armamento, pero una manzana podrida echa a perder todas las de una cesta.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 33:3; John 10:27–30; Job 12:10; Ecclesiastes 8:14; 1 Peter 1:5
- 2 Malachi 3:18; Ecclesiastes 2:14–16; Job 9:22; Psalm 73:3; Malachi 3:5
- 4 Job 14:7–12; Isaiah 38:18; Luke 16:26–29; Lamentations 3:21–22; Job 27:8
- 5 Isaiah 26:14; Ecclesiastes 1:11; Psalm 6:5; Psalm 88:10–12; Hebrews 9:27
- 6 Psalm 146:3–4; Matthew 2:20; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Job 3:17–18; Ecclesiastes 2:18–23
- 7 Ecclesiastes 3:12–13; Deuteronomy 12:7; Ecclesiastes 10:19; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Ecclesiastes 2:24–26
- 8 Revelation 19:14; Revelation 3:4–5; Revelation 19:8; Revelation 7:13–14; Revelation 16:15
- 9 Proverbs 5:18–19; Ecclesiastes 2:10; Malachi 2:15; Ecclesiastes 6:12; Ecclesiastes 3:13
- 10 Colossians 3:23; Ephesians 5:16; Romans 12:11; Psalm 6:5; Ecclesiastes 11:6
- 11 Jeremiah 9:23; Proverbs 21:30–31; Lamentations 3:37–38; Job 5:11–14; Ecclesiastes 3:17
- 12 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Luke 21:34–36; Proverbs 6:15; Luke 12:20; Proverbs 29:6
- 13 Ecclesiastes 8:16; Ecclesiastes 7:15; Ecclesiastes 6:1; Ecclesiastes 9:11
- 14 2 Samuel 20:15–22; 2 Kings 6:24–7:20
- 15 Ecclesiastes 4:13; Genesis 40:23; Esther 6:2–3; 2 Samuel 20:22; Ecclesiastes 2:16
- 16 Ecclesiastes 7:19; Proverbs 24:5; Proverbs 21:22; Mark 6:2–3; James 2:2–6
- 17 James 3:17–18; Proverbs 28:23; James 1:20; Isaiah 42:2; Genesis 41:33–40
- 18 Joshua 7:1; Joshua 7:11–12; Joshua 7:5; 2 Timothy 2:16–18; Ecclesiastes 9:16
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… thy wine with a merry heart (that is, the spiritual wine); and let oil be poured out upon thy head (thou seest he alludes even to the mystic Chrism); and let thy garments be always white, for the Lord is well pleased with thy works; for before thou camest to Baptism, thy works were vanity of vanities.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
So, since no human voice is strong enough to be heard in such a disturbance, I reckon silence more profitable than speech, for if there is any truth in the words of the Preacher, "The words of wise men are heard in quiet," in the present condition of things any discussion of them must be anything but becoming.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)