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.
Parallel Translations
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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.
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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.
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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.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (3)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Ecclesiastes 9:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 26:14 The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.
- Ecclesiastes 1:11 There is no memory of the former; neither shall there be any memory of the latter that are to come, among those that shall come after.
- Psalms 6:5 For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?
- Psalms 88:10-12 Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction? Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
- Job 14:21 His sons come to honor, and he doesn’t know it. They are brought low, but he doesn’t perceive it of them.
- Hebrews 9:27 Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
- Psalms 109:15 Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
- Ecclesiastes 2:16 For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!
- Ecclesiastes 8:10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from holiness. They went and were forgotten in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
- Isaiah 63:16 For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn’t know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
- Job 7:8-10 The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. He will return no more to his house, neither will his place know him any more.
- Ecclesiastes 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting; for that is the end of all men, and the living should take this to heart.
- Job 30:23 For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall…
Ecc 9:5 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.
Ver. 5. For the living know that they shall die.] Hence that proverb among us, As sure as death. Howbeit, that they think little of it to any good purpose, appears by that other proverb, I thought no more of it than of my dying day.
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But the dead know not anything.] So it seemeth to those atheists that deny the immortality of the soul. But they shall know at death that there is another life beyond this, wherein the righteous shall be "comforted," and their knowledge perfected, but the wicked "tormented"; {Luk 16:25} and with nothing more than to know that such and such poor souls as they would have disdained to have "set with the dogs of their flocks." {Job 30:1} are now "sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out into utter darkness," {Luk 13:28} in tenebras ex tenebris infeliciter exclusi, infelicius excludendi, {a}
Neither have they any more a reward.] What! not a "reward for the righteous?" {Psa 58:11} Not a "certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation which shall devour evildoers?" {Heb 10:27} That were strange. But wicked men would fain persuade themselves so: Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, {b} - "Of these things they are willingly ignorant." {2Pe 2:5}
For the memory of them is forgotten.] This is true in part, but not altogether. Joseph was forgotten in Egypt, {Exo 1:1-22} Gideon in Israel. {Jdg 9:1-57} Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiadah had done to him, but slew his son. {2Ch 24:22} Nevertheless the "foundation of God stands firm, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his"; {2Ti 2:19} and there is "a book of remembrance written before him for them that fear the Lord"; {Mal 3:16} their "names are written in heaven," {Luk 10:20} and "the memory of the just is blessed." {Pro 10:7; see the note there}
{a} Augustine.
{b} Bernard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The living know that they shall die; whereby they…
The living know that they shall die; whereby they are taught to improve life, whilst they have it, to their greatest comfort and advantage.
The dead know not anything, to wit, of the actions and events in this world, as this is limited in the end of the next verse. Compare Job 14:21; Isa 13:16.
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A reward; the reward or fruit of their labours in this world, which is utterly lost as to them, and enjoyed by others. See Ecc 2:21. For otherwise, that there are future rewards after death, is asserted by Solomon elsewhere, as we have seen, and shall hereafter see.
Is forgotten, to wit, amongst living men, and even in those places where they had lived in great power and glory; as was noted, Ecc 8:10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For the living know that they shall die,.... Death…
For the living know that they shall die,.... Death is certain, it is the demerit of sin, the appointment of God and the time of it is fixed; it may be known that it will be, from the word of God that assures it, from all experience which confirms it, and from the decline of nature, and the seeds of death in men. This "the living" know that live corporeally, even the wicked themselves, though they put the evil day far from them; and so good men, that live spiritually, being quickened by the Spirit and grace of God, and live a life of faith and holiness; they know they shall die, though Christ died for them, and has abolished death, as a punishment and a curse, and took away its sting, and made it a blessing; wherefore it is desirable to them, as being for their good: but there are some things about death they ordinarily know not; they do not know the time of their death; nor the place where they shall die; nor of what death they shall die; nor in what circumstances, both outward and inward: of these the Targum understands the passage;
"for the righteous know that if they sin, they shall be reckoned as dead men in the world to come, therefore they keep their ways, and sin not; but if they sin, they return by repentance;''
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but the dead know not anything; this is not to be understood of their separate spirits, and of the things of the other world; for the righteous dead know much, their knowledge is greatly increased; they know, as they are known; they know much of God in Christ, of his perfections, purposes, covenant, grace, and love; they know much of Christ, of his person, offices, and glory, and see him as he is; they know much of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it; and of angels, and the spirits of just men, they now converse with; and of the glories and happiness of the heavenly state; even they know abundantly more than they did in this life: and the wicked dead, in their separate spirits, know there is a God that judgeth; that their souls are immortal; that there is a future state; indeed they know and feel the torments of hell, the worm that never dies, and the fire that is not quenched: but this is to be interpreted of their bodily senses now extinct, and of worldly things they have now nothing to do with; they know not any thing that is done in this world, nor how it fares with their children and friends they have left behind them; see Job 14:21; nor therefore are they to be prayed unto, and used as mediators with God. The Targum is,
"and sinners know not any good, so that they do not make their works good while they live; and they know not any good in the world to come;''
neither have they any more a reward; not but that there will be rewards in a future state, in which everyone shall have his own reward; there will be a reward for the righteous; they will receive the reward of the inheritance, though it will be, not of debt, but of grace; and particularly in the millennium state, Psa 58:11; and every transgression of the wicked will receive a just recompence of reward; to whom the reward of their hands will be given them, Heb 2:2; but the sense is, that after death there will be no enjoyment of a man's labours; he will not have the use, profit, and advantage of them, but his heirs that succeed him, Ecc 4:9;
for the memory of them is forgotten; not the memory of the righteous with God, for whom a book of remembrance is written, and whose names are written in heaven; these are had in everlasting remembrance, and their memory blessed: but the memory of wicked men; who, though they take pains to perpetuate their names, which they give to their lands, yet the Lord causes their memory to cease, and they are forgotten in the place where they lived; not only among the righteous, as the Targum, but among others, Isa 26:14; even among those that enjoy the fruit of their labour; they will scarce think of them any more, or, however, in a little time they will be quite forgotten by them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Die - Whereby they are taught to improve life.…
Die - Whereby they are taught to improve life. Any thing - Of the actions and events of this world. Reward - The fruit of their labours in this world, are utterly lost as to them. Forgotten - Even in those places where they had lived in great power and glory.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. The living know that they shall die]…
Verse 5. The living know that they shall die] This is so self-evident that none can doubt it; and therefore all that have this conviction should prepare for death and eternal blessedness.
But the dead know not any thing] Cut off from life, they know nothing of what passes under the sun. Their day of probation is ended, and therefore they can have no farther reward in living a holy life; nor can they be liable to any farther punishment for crimes in a state of probation, that being ended.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain See Ecc 8:12, note; Ecc 8:14, note. The living…
See Ecc 8:12, note; Ecc 8:14, note. The living are conscious that there is a future before them: but the dead are unconscious; they earn nothing, receive nothing, even the memory of them soon disappears; they are no longer excited by the passions which belong to people in this life; their share in its activity has ceased. Solomon here describes what he sees, not what he believes; there is no reference here to the fact or the mode of the existence of the soul in another world, which are matters of faith.
The last clause of Ecc 9:6 indicates that the writer confines his observations on the dead to their portion in, or relation to, this world.
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Ecc 9:6
Now - Rather: “long ago.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Know nothing more, viz., As to the transactions of…
Know nothing more, viz., As to the transactions of this world, in which they have now no part, unless it be revealed to them; neither have they any knowledge or power now of doing any thing to secure their eternal state, (if they have not taken care of it in their lifetime) nor can they now procure themselves any good, as the living always may do, by the grace of God. (Challoner)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain know that they shall die--and may thereby be led…
know that they shall die--and may thereby be led "so to number their days, that they may apply their hearts to wisdom" (Ecc 7:1-4; Psa 90:12).
dead know not anything--that is, so far as their bodily senses and worldly affairs are concerned (Job 14:21; Isa 63:16); also, they know no door of repentance open to them, such as is to all on earth.
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neither . . . reward--no advantage from their worldly labors (Ecc 2:18-22; Ecc 4:9).
memory--not of the righteous (Psa 112:6; Mal 3:16), but the wicked, who with all the pains to perpetuate their names (Psa 49:11) are soon "forgotten" (Ecc 8:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. The living… the dead — The idea is,…
5. The living… the dead — The idea is, that though the living know that they must die, yet this very consciousness, acting in other directions, enables them to enjoy some pleasures. “Under the shadow of death they can still be merry.” The dead, sunken in unconsciousness, have no longer any faculty for enjoyment.
A reward — That is, advantage of any sort.
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The memory of them — Not that they are forgotten, which would be contrary to the grammar of the clause, and to that plain, palpable look of things now under discussion, but that they forget every thing — which is the basis of the statement of the next verse. “After life’s fitful fever,” they lie down in oblivion of all things.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. For the living know that they shall die]…
5. For the living know that they shall die] The writer in one of the strange paradoxes of the mood of pessimism finds that though life is vanity, it is yet better than the death which he looks upon as its only outcome. There is a greatness in the very consciousness of the coming doom. Man, knowing he must perish and lamenting over his fate, is nobler than those that are already numbered with the dead. There is a pride even in the cry with which those who enter on the arena as doomed to death greet the sovereign Power that dooms them:
“Ave, Cæsar; morituri te salutamus.”
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“Hail to thee Cæsar, hail! on our way to our death-doom we greet thee.”
They were nobler then than when their bleeding and mangled car-cases on the arena were all that was left of them.
neither have they any more a reward] The words exclude the thought (in the then phase of the Debater’s feeling) of reward in a life after death, but the primary meaning of the word is that of “hire” and “wages” (Gen_30:28; Exo_2:9), and the idea conveyed is that the dead no longer find, as on earth, that which rewards their labour. There is no longer even death to look forward to as the wages of his life.
So we have in Shakespeare:
“Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta’en thy wages.”
Cymbeline, Act iv., Sc. 2.
for the memory of them is forgotten] The Hebrew gives an assonance between “reward” (sheker) and “memory” (zeker), which it is hard to reproduce in English. “Reward” and “record” suggest themselves as the nearest approximation. For the thought see note on ch. Ecc_1:11. Even the immortality of living in the memory of others, which modern thinkers have substituted for the Christian hope, is denied to the vast majority of mankind.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For the living know that they shall die. This…
For the living know that they shall die. This is added in confirmation of the statement in ver. 4. The living have at least the consciousness that they will soon have to die, and this leads them to work while it is day, to employ their faculties worthily, to make use of opportunities, to enjoy and profit by the present. They have a certain fixed event to which they must look forward; and they have not to stand idle, lamenting their fate, but their duty and their happiness is to accept the inevitable and make the best of it. But the dead know not anything. They are cut off from the active, bustling world; their work is done; they have nothing to expect, nothing to labor for. What passes upon earth affects them not; the knowledge of it reaches them no longer. Aristotle"s idea was that the dead did know something, in a hazy and indistinct way, of what went on in the upper world, and were in some slight degree influenced thereby, but not to such a degree as to change happiness into misery, or vice versa ("Eth. Nicom.," 1:10 and 11). Neither have they any more a reward; i.e. no fruit for labor done. There is no question here about future retribution in another world. The gloomy view of the writer at this moment precludes all idea of such an adjustment of anomalies after death. For the memory of them is forgotten. They have not even the poor reward of being remembered by loving posterity, which in the mind of an Oriental was an eminent blessing, to be much desired. There is a paronomasia in zeker, "memory," and sakar, "reward," which, as Plumptre suggests, may be approximately represented in English by the words "record" and "reward."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For the living know that they shall die.
Ecc_9:5
For the living know that they shall die.
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A funeral sermon
I. Whence it is that the living attain the sure and infallible knowledge of their own death.
1. There be many things from whence we may collect the necessity of dying.
(1) We may collect it by those harbingers and forerunners of death, diseases, pains, and natural decays which are incident to all men.
(2) The observation of deaths universal empire over all other things, and over all other men, may give us a certain knowledge that we also must shortly die.
(3) We may certainly know ourselves mortal by knowing ourselves sinful creatures. There is a double necessity of death on account of sin. As a punishment. As a purgation of it.
2. Now, though, by these and other such-like considerations, we may arrive at a certain knowledge that we shall die; yet the particular circumstances of the time and manner of our death are known to God only.
(1) He only knows the critical and punctual time of our death; for He hath determined it, to a very moment.
(2) In what manner our death will appear to us, we know not: this is a secret of Gods own breast.
II. Whence it proceeds, that men are so stupidly irrational, that, though they all know they. Shall die, yet so few seriously prepare themselves for it.
1. Men are generally so immersed in the businesses and pleasures of life, that these swallow up all serious thoughts of death and preparations for it. They are employed about other things: like a heap of ants, that are busily toiling to get in their provision, without regarding the foot that is ready to crush them. Such are the impertinent and vain cares of men! The riches and honours, which are but the dust and smoke of this world, have so blinded our eyes, that we cannot discern the near approaches of death; and thus, while we, Archimedes like, are busily drawing projects and designs in the dust, and are wholly intent about vainer speculations than his, we mind not the alarm, nor perceive the enemy is upon us, till we are stricken dead through the reins.
2. Men delay serious preparations for death, because they generally look upon it as afar off.
(1) Men reckon old age a vast while off.
(2) Most men presume that they shall live to extreme age.
(3) Men think a few of their latest days and thoughts are enough to prepare them for death. Think you your souls can then vigorously bestir themselves when they are grown stiff with age; when your faculties are benumbed, and your spirits congealed past the thaw of a fire?
3. Men generally put off serious thoughts of dying because of the terrors and insupportable dread which such apprehensions bring with them. And therefore death is called (Job_18:14) the king of terrors: a king that comes attended with a thousand phantoms and frightful apparitions.
III. Application.
1. If we all certainly know that we must die, this might teach us so much wisdom as not to set our affections eagerly upon anything in this present world; a world which we must shortly leave.
2. Since we all know that we shall die, let this serve to exhort us seriously to prepare for our death. Some sad instances there have been of those who, having neglected this great work till the end of their life, have then spent that little remnant of time which they had in crying out for more. But if we have carefully prepared ourselves for death, it will be to us a repose instead of a terror. (Bp. E. Hopkins.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.