Ecclesiastes 8
1 The wisdom of a man shineth in his countenance, and the most mighty will change his face.
Who [is] as the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 I observe the mouth of the king, and the commandments of the oath of God.
I [counsel]: keep the command of a king, even for the sake of an oath [to] God.
3 Be not hasty to depart from his face, and do not continue in an evil work: for he will do all that pleaseth him:
Do not be troubled at his presence, you may go, do not stand in an evil thing, for all that he pleases he does.
4 And his word is full of power: neither can any man say to him: Why dost thou so?
Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who says to him, “What do you do?”
5 He that keepeth the commandments shall find no evil. The heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.
Whoever is keeping a command knows no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knows.
6 There is a time and opportunity for every business, and great affliction for man:
For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great on him.
7 Because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he cannot know by any messenger.
For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?
8 It is not in man’s power to stop the spirit, neither hath he power in the day of death, neither is he suffered to rest when war is at hand, neither shall wickedness save the wicked.
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 does not deliver its possessors.
9 All these things I have considered, and applied my heart to all the works that are done under the sun. Sometimes one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; a time that man has ruled over man to his own evil.
10 I saw the wicked buried: who also when they were yet living were in the holy place, and were praised in the city as men of just works: but this also is vanity.
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 [is] also vanity.
11 For because sentence is not speedily pronounced against the evil, the children of men commit evils without any fear.
Because sentence has not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.
12 But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and by patience be borne withal, I know from thence that it shall be well with them that fear God, who dread his face.
Though a sinner is doing evil one hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.
13 But let it not be well with the wicked, neither let his days be prolonged, but as a shadow let them pass away that fear not the face of the Lord.
And good is not to the wicked, and he does not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
14 There is also another vanity, which is done upon the earth. There are just men to whom evils happen, as though they had done the works of the wicked: and there are wicked men, who are as secure, as though they had the deeds of the just: but this also I judge most vain.
There is a vanity that has been done on the earth, that there are righteous ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones to whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this [is] also vanity.
15 Therefore I commended mirth, because there was no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry, and that he should take nothing else with him of his labour in the days of his life, which God hath given 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 remains with him of his labor the days of his life that God has given to him under the sun.
16 And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to understand the distraction that is upon earth: for there are some that day and night take no sleep with their eyes.
When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that has been done on the earth (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),
17 And I understood that man can find no reason of all those works of God that are done under the sun: and the more he shall labour to seek, so much the less shall he find: yea, though the wise man shall say, that he knoweth it, he shall not be able to find it.
then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that has been done under the sun, because though man labor to seek, yet he does not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.
