Ecclesiastes 8
1 Sapientia hominis lucet in vultu eius, et potentissimus faciem illius commutabit.
Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
2 Ego os regis observo, et praecepta iuramenti Dei.
I say, Keep the king's command, and that because of the oath of God.
3 Ne festines recedere a facie eius, neque permaneas in opere malo: quia omne, quod voluerit, faciet:
Be not hasty to go out of his presence. Persist not in an evil matter, for he does whatever pleases him.
4 et sermo illius potestate plenus est: nec dicere ei quisquam potest: Quare ita facis?
For the king's word has power, and who may say to him, What are thou doing?
5 Qui custodit praeceptum, non experietur quidquam mali. Tempus et responsionem cor sapientis intelligit.
He who keeps a commandment shall know no evil thing. And a wise man's heart discerns the time and decision.
6 Omni negotio tempus est, et opportunitas, et multa hominis afflictio:
For to every purpose there is a time and decision, although the distress of man is great upon him.
7 quia ignorat praeterita, et futura nullo scire potest nuncio.
For he knows not that which shall be, for who can tell him how it shall be?
8 Non est in hominis potestate prohibere spiritum, nec habet potestatem in die mortis, nec sinitur quiescere ingruente bello, neque salvabit impietas impium.
There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, nor has he power over the day of death. And there is no discharge in war. Neither shall wickedness deliver him who is given to it.
9 Omnia haec consideravi, et dedi cor meum in cunctis operibus, quae fiunt sub sole. Interdum dominatur homo homini in malum suum.
All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt.
10 Vidi impios sepultos: qui etiam cum adhuc viverent, in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in civitate quasi iustorum operum. sed et hoc vanitas est.
So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were praised in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.
11 Etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala.
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.
12 Attamen peccator ex eo quod centies facit malum, et per patientiam sustentatur, ego cognovi quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui verentur faciem eius.
Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and prolongs his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before him.
13 Non sit bonum impio, nec prolongentur dies eius, sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini.
But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he did not fear before God.
14 Est et alia vanitas, super terram. sunt iusti, quibus mala proveniunt, quasi opera egerint impiorum: et sunt impii, qui ita securi sunt, quasi iustorum facta habeant. sed et hoc vanissimum iudico.
There is a vanity which is done upon 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.
15 Laudavi igitur laetitiam quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet: et hoc solum secum auferret de labore suo in diebus vitae suae, quos dedit ei Deus sub sole.
Then I commended joy, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be cheerful. For that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
16 Et apposui cor meum ut scirem sapientiam, et intelligerem distentionem, quae versatur in terra: est homo, qui diebus et noctibus somnum non capit oculis.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is he who sees sleep with his eyes neither day nor night),
17 Et intellexi quod omnium operum Dei nullam possit homo invenire rationem eorum, quae fiunt sub sole: et quanto plus laboraverit ad quaerendum, tanto minus inveniat: etiam si dixerit sapiens se nosse, non poterit reperire.
then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea moreover, though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it.
