Ecclesiastes 8
8
1Who is like the wise?
Who knows the explanation of things?
A person’s wisdom brightens their face
and changes its hard appearance.
Obey the King
2Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God. 3Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. 4Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
5Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm,
and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
6For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter,
though a person may be weighed down by misery.
7Since no one knows the future,
who can tell someone else what is to come?
8As no one has power over the wind to contain it,
so#8:8 Or over the human spirit to retain it, / and so no one has power over the time of their death.
As no one is discharged in time of war,
so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
9All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own#8:9 Or to their hurt. 10Then too, I saw the wicked buried—those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise#8:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Septuagint (Aquila); most Hebrew manuscripts and are forgotten in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
11When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong. 12Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
14There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless. 15So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth—people getting no sleep day or night— 17then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.
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The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
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Qoheleth (Ecclesiastes) 8
8
1Who is like a wise one? And who knows the meaning of a matter? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2I say, “Guard the sovereign’s command because of the oath before Elohim.
3Do not be in a hurry to go from his presence. Do not take a stand in an evil matter, for he does whatever he pleases.”
4Where the word of a sovereign is, there is power. And who says to him, “What are you doing?”
5He who guards the command knows no evil matter. And the heart of the wise discerns both time and right-ruling,
6Because for every matter there is a time and right-ruling, though the trouble of man is heavy upon him.
7For he does not know what shall be; so who declares to him when it shall be?
8No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no discharge in battle, and wrongness does not release those who are given to it.
9All this I have seen; I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which a man rules over a man for his evil.
10And so I saw the wrong ones buried, and they came and went from the place of set-apartness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. That too is futile.
11Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is filled in them to do evil.
12Although a sinner is doing evil a hundred times, and his life is prolonged, yet I know that there is good to those who fear Elohim, who fear before Him.
13But it shall not be well with the wrong one, nor would he prolong his days as a shadow, because he does not fear before Elohim.
14There is a futility which has been done on earth, that there are righteous ones who get according to the deeds of the wrong. And there are wrong ones who get according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this too is futile.
15Therefore I praised enjoyment, because there is no good to man except to eat, and to drink, and to rejoice – and it remains with him in his labour for the days of his life which Elohim has given him under the sun.
16When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task which has been done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,
17then I saw all the work of Elohim, that man is unable to find out the work that has been done under the sun. For though a man labours to seek, yet he does not find it. And even though a wise one claims to know, he is unable to find it.
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