Ecclesiastes 9:3
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This 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.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
"This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that one event happeneth to all: and also the heart of the children of men is full of evil; and madness possesseth their heart during their life, and after it they go to the dead." As זה, Ecc 9:1, points to the asher following, in which it unfolds itself, so here to the ki following. We do not translate: This is the worst thing (Jerome: hoc est pessimum), which, after Jos 14:15; Jdg 6:15; Sol 1:8, would have required the words בכל הרע - the author does not designate the equality of fate as the greatest evil, but as an evil mixed with all earthly events. It is an evil in itself, as being a contradiction to the moral order of the world; and it is such also on account of its demoralizing influences. The author here repeats what he had already, Ecc 8:11, said in a more special reference, that because evil is not in this world visibly punished, men become confident and bold in sinning. Vegam (referable to the whole clause, at the beginning of which it is placed) stands beside zeh ra', connecting with that which is evil in itself its evil influences. מלא might be an adj., for this (only once, Jer 6:11), like the verb, is connected with the accus., e.. Deu 33:23. But, since not a statement but a factum had to be uttered, it is finite, as at Ecc 8:11. Thus Jerome, after Symm.: sed et cor filiorum hominum repletur malitia et procacitate juxta cor eorum in vita sua. Keeping out of view the false sed, this translation corresponds to the accenting which gives the conjunctive Kadma to רע. But without doubt an independent substantival clause begins with והו: and madness is in their heart (vid., Ecc 1:17) their life long; for, without taking heed to God's will and to what is pleasing to God, or seeking after instruction, they think o…
Open source ↗Solomon, in this chapter, for a further proof of the vanity of this world, gives us four observations which he had made upon a survey of the state of the children of men in it: - I. He observed that commonly as to outward things, good and bad men fare much alike (Ecc 9:1-3). II. That death puts a final period to all our employments and enjoyments in this world (Ecc 9:4-6), whence he infers that it is our wisdom to enjoy the comforts of life and mind the business of life, while it lasts (Ecc 9:7-10). III. That God's providence often crosses the fairest and most hopeful probabilities of men's endeavour, and great calamities often surprise men ere they are aware (Ecc 9:11, Ecc 9:12). IV. That wisdom often makes men very useful, and yet gains them little respect, for that persons of great merit are slighted (Ecc 9:13-18). And what is there then in this world that should make us fond of it?
Open source ↗9:3 When punishments, including death, are delayed, people continue their own mad course, perhaps intensifying their sin and foolishness.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.
So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?
The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
But he was rebuked for his transgression by a donkey, otherwise without speech, that spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
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.