Ecclesiastes 8
1 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.
Who can compare to the truly wise? Who knows how to interpret things? If you have wisdom your face lights up, and your stern look is softened.
2 I [counsel]: keep the command of a king, even for the sake of an oath [to] God.
My advice is to do what the king says, since that's what you promised God.
3 Do not be troubled at his presence, you may go, do not stand in an evil thing, for all that he pleases he does.
Don't be quick to walk out on the king without thinking what you're doing, and don't get involved with those who plot against him, for the king can do what he pleases.
4 Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who says to him, “What do you do?”
The king's orders have supreme authority—who is going to question him, saying, “What are you doing?”
5 Whoever is keeping a command knows no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knows.
Those who follow his commands will not be involved in doing evil. Wise people think, recognizing there's a right time, and a right way.
6 For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great on him.
For there's a right time and a right way for everything, even when things are going badly for you.
7 For he does not know that which will be, for when it will be who declares to him?
No one knows what's going to happen, so who can say what the future holds?
8 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.
No one can hold onto the breath of life; no one can prevent the day when they die. There's no way of escaping that battle, and the wicked won't be saved by their wickedness!
9 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.
I examined all these things, and thought about all that happens here on earth, and the damage that's caused when people dominate others.
10 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.
Yes, I have seen wicked people buried with great honor. They used to go to the holy place, and were praised in the very city where they did their evil. This is hard to understand!
11 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.
When people are not punished quickly for their crimes they are even more determined to do wrong.
12 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.
Even though a sinner may do wrong a hundred times, and live a long life, I'm convinced that those who do what God says will be better off.
13 And good is not to the wicked, and he does not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.
In fact, the wicked will not live long, passing like a shadow, because they refuse to follow God.
14 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.
Another thing that is hard to understand is this: good people are treated as the wicked should be, and the wicked are treated as good people should be. As I say, this is difficult to comprehend!
15 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.
So I recommend enjoying life. There's nothing better for us here on earth than to eat and drink and be happy. Such an attitude will go with us as we work, and as we live our lives that God gives us here on earth.
16 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),
When I applied my mind to discovering wisdom and observing everything people do here on earth, I couldn't get any sleep, day or night.
17 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.
Then I studied everything God does, and I realized that no one can fully understand what happens here. However, hard they try, however wise they claim to be, they can't really comprehend it.
