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] as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

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

I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of 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 troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth.

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

Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who saith to him, 'What dost thou?'

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

Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.

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

For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him.

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

For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?

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.

There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness delivereth not its possessors.

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 I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.

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.

And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also [is] vanity.

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

Because sentence hath not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within 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.

Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before 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 good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before 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 that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have 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.

And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to 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 gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),

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 I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.