Ecclesiastes 8

1Who is like the wise? Who knows the meaning of a thing? A person’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

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

3Do not be in a hurry to leave his presence; do not persist in a bad cause, for he does whatever he pleases.

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

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

6For there is a right time and way for every matter, though a person’s trouble lies heavy on him.

7For no one knows what will happen, and who can tell anyone how it will happen?

8No one has power over the spirit to hold back the spirit, and no one has power over the day of death; there is no discharge in war, and wickedness will not rescue those who practice it.

9All this I saw as I applied my heart to every deed that is done under the sun, a time when one person has power over another to his harm.

10Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to come and go from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done such things. This too is futile.

11Because the sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the hearts of human beings are fully set on doing evil.

12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I know that it will go well with those who fear God, who stand in fear before him.

13But it will not go well with the wicked, and he will not lengthen his days like a shadow, because he does not stand in fear before God.

14There is something futile that happens on earth: there are righteous people who receive what the deeds of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who receive what the deeds of the righteous deserve. I said that this too is futile.

15So I commended joy, for there is nothing better for people under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad; this will go with them in their toil through the days of life that God has given them under the sun.

16When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth—for even by day and by night one’s eyes see no sleep—

17then I saw all the work of God: no one can find out the work that is done under the sun. However much people toil in searching, they will not find it; even if the wise claim to know it, they cannot find it out.