8:1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the explanation of things? Wisdom brightens a man’s face and changes its hard appearance.
8:2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God.
8:3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.
8:4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
8:5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.
8:6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
8:7 Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come?
8:8 No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
8:9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.
8:10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried–those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.
8:11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.
8:12 Although a wicked man commits a hundred crimes and still lives a long time, I know that it will go better with God-fearing men, who are reverent before God.
8:13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.
8:14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.
8:15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
8:16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe man’s labor on earth–his eyes not seeing sleep day or night–
8:17 then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
8:1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed.
8:2 I say, Keep the commandment of the king, and that, because of the oath before God.
8:3 Do not hurry to leave him; do not join in an evil matter, for he will do whatever he pleases.
8:4 For the king s word is powerful, and who will say to him, What are you doing?
8:5 He who keeps the commandment will know nothing evil, and a wise man s heart will know the proper time and manner.
8:6 For there is a proper time and manner for every purpose, although the misery of man is heavy upon him;
8:7 For he does not know what will be, for who can tell him how it will be?
8:8 There is no man who has power over his breath to retain his breath, and no one has power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the battle, nor will wickedness deliver its own master.
8:9 All this I have seen, and I applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun when a man overpowers another man to his hurt.
8:10 And then I saw the wicked buried, who before had gone in and come forth from the holy place and were forgotten in the city where they had thus acted. This also is vanity.
8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set within them to do evil.
8:12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will be well with the God-fearing who are in fear before Him;
8:13 But it will not be well with the wicked man, nor will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he is not in fear before God.
8:14 There is a vanity that is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom things happen according to the deeds of the wicked and there are wicked men to whom things happen according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this also is vanity.
8:15 So I praised pleasure, because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat and to drink and to rejoice; for that will stay with him in his labor during the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
8:16 When I set my heart to know wisdom and to see the travail that is done on the earth (even though man s eyes do not see sleep day or night),
8:17 Then I saw every work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun, because however man labors to seek it out, he will not find it out; and even if the wise man says that he will come to know it, he is not able to find it out.