Ecclesiastes 8

1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

Who is like the wise? and who knoweth [as well] the explanation of a thing? a man's wisdom enlighteneth his face, and the boldness of his face will be lessened.

2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.

I [counsel thee], Keep the king's command, and that which regardeth the oath [to him taken] by God.

3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

Be not hasty to go out of his presence; engage not in an evil thing; for whatsoever pleaseth him, can he do;

4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

Because the word of a king is powerful; and who may say unto him, What doest thou?—

5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

Whoso keepeth the commandment will experience no evil thing: and a wise man's heart knoweth both time and the just consequence.

6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.

Because for every pursuit there is a time and a just consequence; for the evil of man [resteth] heavily upon him.

7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

For he knoweth not that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?

8 As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

No man hath control over the spirit to detain the spirit; and there is no control over the day of death; and there is no representation in that war; and wickedness will not deliver those that practise it.

9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

All this have I seen, and directed my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when one man ruleth over another to his own injury.

10 Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

Then also did I see the wicked buried, who had gone to their rest; but those who had acted correctly had to go away from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city. Also this is vanity.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

Because the punishment against evil deeds is not executed speedily, therefore is the heart of the sons of men filled up in them to do evil.

12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

But let a sinner do evil a hundred times, and [God] withhold long his punishment from him; still do I truly know for certain that it will be well with those that fear God, because they are afraid of him;

13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

And that it will not be well with the wicked, and that he will not endure many days, like the shadow; because he is not afraid of God.

14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men, unto whom it happeneth in accordance with the deeds of the wicked; again, there are wicked men, to whom it happeneth in accordance with the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

15 So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

Therefore do I praise joyfulness, that there is nothing better for man under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful; for this will adhere to him in his toil, during the days of his life which God hath given him under the sun.—

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the employment that is done upon the earth, how even neither by day nor by night sleep is seen in the eyes of some men:

17 I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

Then did I see [in] the whole work of God, that a man is not able to find out the work that is done under the sun; inasmuch as though a man were to toil to seek for it, he would yet not find it; and even if the wise were to think to know it, he would yet not be able to find it.