Ecclesiastes 8
1 [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.
Who is like the wise man, and who knoweth the explanation of a thing? A man's wisdom brighteneth his countenance, and the harshness of his face is changed.
2 You solemnly promised God that you would obey what the king commands, so do that.
I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that on account of the oath of God.
3 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.
Be not in haste to depart from his presence; persist not in an evil thing; for whatever pleaseth him, that he doeth.
4 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]”
For the word of the king is powerful; and who can say to him, “What doest thou?”
5 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.
He that keepeth the commandment shall experience no evil; and the heart of the wise man hath regard to time and judgment.
6 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].
For to every thing there is a time and judgment. For the misery of man is great upon him.
7 No one knows what will happen in the future, so there is no one [RHQ] who can tell us what is going to happen.
For no one knoweth what shall be; for who can tell him how it shall be?
8 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.
No man hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no man hath power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in that war; and wickedness shall not deliver those that are guilty of it.
9 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.
All this have I seen, and I have given heed to all things that are done under the sun. There is a time when man ruleth over man to his hurt.
10 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.
And so I saw the wicked buried, while the righteous came and went from the holy place, and were forgotten in the city. This also is vanity.
11 If evil people are not immediately punished, it causes [other] people [SYN] to [also] want to do evil things.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore doth the heart of the sons of men become bold within them to do evil.
12 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.
But though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and have his days prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him.
13 [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.
But it shall not be well with the wicked: he shall be like a shadow, and shall not prolong his days, because he feareth not before God.
14 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.
There is a vanity which taketh place upon the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked, and that there are wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous. I said, “This also is vanity!”
15 [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.
Then I commended joy; because nothing is good for a man under the sun, except to eat and to drink and to be joyful; for it is this that abideth with him for his labor during the days of his life which God giveth him under the sun.
16 I thought about being wise and about people who work very hard, working day and night and not taking time to sleep.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom, and to see the business which is done upon the earth, —that one seeth no sleep with his eyes by day or by night, —
17 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.
then I saw the whole work of God, that a man cannot comprehend that which is done under the sun; how much soever he labor to search it out, yet shall he not comprehend it; yea, though a wise man resolve to know it, yet shall he not be able to comprehend it.
