Ecclesiastes 8

Modern

Literal

Obey the King

¹Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.

¹Who is like the wise one, and who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of a man makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

²Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God.

²I say: The mouth of a king you must keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.

³Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

³Do not hurry to depart from his face; do not stand in an evil matter, for all that he delights in, he will do.

⁴For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁴Where the word of a king is, power is, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

⁵Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

⁵The one guarding a command will not know an evil thing, and the heart of a wise one knows a time and a judgment.

⁶For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.

⁶For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, though the misery of man is great upon him.

⁷Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

⁷Indeed, he is not knowing what will happen; for when it will be, who can declare it to him?

⁸As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.

⁸No man is masterful over the wind to restrain the wind, and no one has mastery over the day of his death. And there is no discharge in the battle, and wickedness will not deliver its possessors.

⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment.

⁹All this I have seen, so as to give my heart to every work that is done the under sun; a time that man has ruled over man, for evil unto himself.

Fear God

¹⁰Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised^a in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

¹⁰And in this I have seen the wicked ones being buried, and they went in, even from the place of holiness they walked, and they were praised in the city where thus they had done. This also is vapor.

¹¹When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

¹¹Because an edict is not made on the evil work swiftly, upon thus the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil.

¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.

¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and it is prolonged to him still, surely I know that there is good for those fearing God, who fear from before His face.

¹³Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹³But it shall not be good for the wicked, and he will not prolong the days like a shadow, because he is not fearing before the face of God.

God’s Ways Are Mysterious

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹⁴There is a vapor that occurs on the earth: That there are righteous ones for whom it touches them according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked for whom it touches them according to the work of the righteous. I have said this also is vapor.

¹⁵So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁵And I have praised the enjoyment, because nothing is good for a man under the sun, except than to eat and to drink and to be joyful, for only this will accompany him in his toil during the days of his life that God has given to him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night—

¹⁶When I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to see the task that is done on earth—for even he is not seeing sleep with his eyes in the day and in the night—

¹⁷I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.

¹⁷and I saw all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that is done under the sun in that to which man might toil to seek it, and he will not find it; and even though the wise one claims to know it, he is not able to find it.