Ecclesiastes 8
1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
[I will tell you about] those who are truly wise [RHQ] with the result that they can explain why everything happens. Being wise enables people to be happy [MTY] and enables them to smile.
2 Keep the king's command, because of the oath to God.
You solemnly promised God that you would obey what the king commands, so do that.
3 Do not be hasty to go out of his presence. Do not persist in an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him,
Do not quickly disobey the king. And do not join those who want to rebel against him, because the king will do what he wants to do.
4 for the king's word is supreme. Who can say to him, "What are you doing?"
We need to obey what the king says more than we need to obey what anyone else says; no one can say to the king, “(Why are you doing that?/You should not be doing that.) [RHQ]”
5 Whoever keeps the commandment shall not come to harm, and his wise heart will know the time and procedure.
If you obey what the king commands, he will not harm you. [So] be wise, and know the correct/right time to do things and the right way to do them.
6 For there is a time and procedure for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy on him.
Although people experience many troubles/difficulties, there is a right/correct time to do things, and there is a right/correct way [to do them].
7 For he doesn't know that which will be; for who can tell him how it will be?
No one knows what will happen in the future, so there is no one [RHQ] who can tell us what is going to happen.
8 There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither shall wickedness deliver those who practice it.
We cannot control the wind, and we cannot control when we will die. Soldiers are not permitted to go home during a battle, and evil people will not be saved by [doing what is] evil.
9 All this have I seen, and applied my mind to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
I thought about all those things, and I thought about all [HYP] the other things that happen on this earth. I saw that [sometimes] people cause those whom they control to suffer.
10 So I saw the wicked buried. Indeed they came also from the holy place. They went and were praised in the city where they did this. This also is vanity.
I also saw that [sometimes] after evil [people] die, they are highly honored at their funerals by the people in the cities where they had done [evil] deeds. It seemed to be difficult to understand why that happens.
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
If evil people are not immediately punished, it causes [other] people [SYN] to [also] want to do evil things.
12 Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.
But even if sinful people commit 100 crimes, and [even if they] live for a long time, I know that things will go better for those who greatly respect and revere God.
13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow; because he doesn't fear God.
[I also know] that things will not go well go for those who are evil, because they do not revere God. Shadows [do not last a long time]. Similarly [SIM], evil people will not live a long time.
14 There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.
Another thing that [sometimes] happens on this earth is that bad things happen to righteous people, and good things happen to evil people. It is difficult to understand why that happens.
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be joyful: for that will accompany him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
[So] I decided that I would recommend that people be happy while they are alive, because the best thing that people can do here on this earth is to eat and drink and be happy. Enjoying doing those things will help people while they do their work, all the time that God has given to them to remain alive here on the earth.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),
I thought about being wise and about people who work very hard, working day and night and not taking time to sleep.
17 then I saw all the work of God, that man can't find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won't find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won't be able to find it.
Then I thought about everything [HYP] that God has done, and I realized that no one can understand everything that happens here on this earth. Truly, people are not able to fully understand everything [that God understands], even if they try hard to do that. Even if wise people claim that they understand it all, they cannot.
