Ecclesiastes 8
8
1Who is really wise? Who knows how to explain things? Wisdom makes one’s face shine, and it changes one’s grim look.
The Power of Kings Versus the Power of Death
2I ⌞advise⌟ you to obey the king’s commands because of the oath you took in God’s presence. 3Don’t be in a hurry to leave the king’s service. Don’t take part in something evil, because he can do whatever he pleases. 4Since a king’s word has such power, no one can ask him what he is doing. 5Whoever obeys his commands will avoid trouble. The mind of a wise person will know the right time and the right way ⌞to act⌟. 6There is a right time and a right way ⌞to act⌟ in every situation. Yet, a terrible human tragedy hangs over people.
7They don’t know what the future will bring. So who can tell them how things will turn out? 8No one has the power to prevent the spirit #8:8 Or “breath.” of life from leaving. No one has control over the day of his own death. There is no way to avoid the war ⌞against death⌟. Wickedness will not save wicked people ⌞from dying⌟.
Life Is Unfair
9I have seen all of this, and I have carefully considered all that is done under the sun whenever one person has authority to hurt others. 10Then I saw wicked people given an ⌞honorable⌟ burial. They used to go in and out of the holy place. They were praised in the city for doing such things. Even this is pointless.
The Need for Swift Justice
11When a sentence against a crime isn’t carried out quickly, people are encouraged to commit crimes. 12A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and yet live a long life. Still, I know with certainty that it will go well for those who fear God, because they fear him. 13But it will not go well for the wicked. They will not live any longer. Their lives are like shadows, because they don’t fear God.
Enjoy Life
14There is something being done on earth that is pointless. Righteous people suffer for what the wicked do, and wicked people get what the righteous deserve. I say that even this is pointless.
15So I recommend the enjoyment ⌞of life⌟. People have nothing better to do under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy themselves. This joy will stay with them while they work hard during their brief lives which God has given them under the sun.
16When I carefully considered how to study wisdom and how to look at the work that is done on earth (even going without sleep day and night), 17then I saw everything that God has done. No one is able to grasp the work that is done under the sun. However hard a person may search for it, he will not find ⌞its meaning⌟. Even though a wise person claims to know, he is not able to grasp it.
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Ecclesiastes 8
8
1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I say, “Keep the king’s command!” because of the oath to God. 3Don’t be hasty to go out of his presence. Don’t persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him, 4for the king’s word is supreme. Who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 5Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure. 6For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him. 7For he doesn’t know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be? 8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practise it.
9 All this I have seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt. 10So 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. 11Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. 13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun than to eat, to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labour all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (even though eyes see no sleep day or night), 17then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labours to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.
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