Shared Word Translation
Ecclesiastes 8
Who is like the wise person?
Who knows the interpretation of a matter?
A person's wisdom makes their face shine,
and the hardness of their face is changed.
I say: Keep the king's command, because of the oath of God.
Do not be hasty to leave his presence. Do not stand in an evil matter, for he does whatever he desires.
For the word of a king is power, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the heart of the wise knows the right time and judgment.
For every matter has its right time and judgment, though the misery of humankind lies heavily upon them.
For no one knows what will be; for when it will be, who can tell them?
No one has power over the wind, to restrain the wind;
there is no authority on the day of death;
there is no discharge in battle;
and wickedness will not deliver those who possess it.
All this I saw, as I gave my heart to every work that is done under the sun: there is a time when one person rules over another, to their harm.
And so I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This too is vapor.
Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out swiftly, the hearts of human beings are full of resolve to do evil.
Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him.
But it will not be well with the wicked, nor will they prolong their days like a shadow, because they do not fear before God.
There is a vapor that takes place on the earth: there are righteous people to whom it comes according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it comes according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this too is vapor.
So I praised joy, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and rejoice. This will accompany them in their toil through the days of their life that God gives them under the sun.
When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the task that is done on the earth—even by day and by night one sees no sleep with one's eyes—
then I saw all the work of God: no one can find out the work that is done under the sun. However much a person labors to seek it, they will not find it; even if the wise claim to know, they cannot find it out.