Ecclesiastes 8
8
Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities
1Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. # Dt 28:50
2Keep # Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg, Tg, Syr; other Hb mss read I, keep the king’s command because of your oath made before God. # Ex 22:11; 2Sm 21:7; Ezk 17:18 3Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, # Ec 10:4 and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. 4For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing? ” # Jb 9:12; Dn 4:35 5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, # Rm 13:3 and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6For every activity there is a right time and procedure, # Ec 3:1,17 even though man’s troubles are heavy on him. 7Yet no one knows what will happen # Ec 3:22; 6:12; 9:12; 10:14 because who can tell him what will happen? 8No one has authority over the wind # Or life-breath to restrain it, # Ps 148:8; Pr 30:4; Mk 4:39 and there is no authority over the day of death; # Jn 10:18; 2Tm 1:10 there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. 9All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm.
10In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, # Ec 9:5 and they were praised # Some Hb mss, LXX, Aq, Theod, Sym; other Hb mss read forgotten in the city where they did so. This too is futile. 11Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, # Rm 2:4; 2Pt 3:9 the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. 12Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, # Ec 7:15 yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, # Dt 12:25; Ps 37:11; Pr 1:33; Is 3:10 for they are reverent before Him. 13However, it will not go well with the wicked, # Is 3:11 and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, # Jb 14:2; Ec 6:12 for they are not reverent before God.
14There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, # Ec 7:15 and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. # Jb 21:7; Ps 73:3; Jr 12:1 I say that this too is futile. 15So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, # Ec 2:24 for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.
16When I applied my mind to know wisdom # Ec 1:13-14 and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), 17I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; # Ec 3:11; 7:25-29; 11:5 even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.
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Ecclesiastes 8: HCSB
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Ecclesiastes 8
8
1Who is clever enough
to explain everything?
Wisdom makes you cheerful
and gives you a smile.
Obey the king
2If you promised God that you would be loyal to the king, I advise you to keep that promise. 3Don't quickly oppose the king or argue when he has already made up his mind. 4The king's word is law. No one can ask him, “Why are you doing this?” 5If you obey the king, you will stay out of trouble. So be clever and learn what to do and when to do it. 6Life is hard, but there is a time and a place for everything, 7though no one can tell the future. 8We cannot control the wind#8.8 control the wind: Or “escape from death”. or determine the day of our death. There is no escape in time of war, and no one can hide behind evil. 9I noticed all this and thought seriously about what goes on in the world. Why does one person have the power to hurt another?
Who can understand the ways of God?
10I saw the wicked buried with honour, but God's people had to leave the holy city and were forgotten.#8.10 but…forgotten: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. None of this makes sense. 11When we see criminals commit crime after crime without being punished, it makes us want to start a life of crime. 12They commit hundreds of crimes and live to a ripe old age, in spite of the saying:
Everyone who lives right
and respects God
will prosper,
13but no one who sins
and rejects God
will prosper or live very long.
14There is something else that doesn't make sense to me. Good citizens are treated as criminals, while criminals are honoured as though they were good citizens. 15So I think we should get as much out of life as we possibly can. There is nothing better than to enjoy our food and drink and to have a good time. Then we can make it through this troublesome life that God has given us here on earth.
16Day and night I went without sleep, trying to understand what goes on in this world. 17I saw everything God does, and I realized that no one can really understand what happens. We may be very wise, but no matter how much we try or how much we claim to know, we cannot understand it all.
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