ECCLESIASTES 8 [†] Who is like the wise?

And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

 z A man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and  a the hardness of his face is changed.

2[†]I say: [1] Keep the king’s command, because of  b God’s oath to him. [2] 3[†]Be not hasty to  c go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. 4[†]For the word of the king is supreme, and  d who may say to him, “What are you doing?” 5Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way. 6For there is a time and a way  e for everything, although man’s trouble [3] lies heavy on him. 7[†]For he  f does not know what is to be, for  g who can tell him how it will be? 8No man has power to  h retain the spirit,  i or power over the day of death. There is no  j discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. 9 k All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

10[†]Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of  l the holy place and were  m praised [4] in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. [5] 11Because  n the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily,  o the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and  p prolongs his life, yet I know that  q it will be well with  r those who fear God, because they fear before him. 13But it will  s not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like  t a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

14[^][†]There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people  u to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people  v to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. 15[^]And I commend joy, for man  w has nothing better under the sun but to  x eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

16When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see  y the business that is done on earth, how neither  z day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, 17[†]then I saw all the work of God, that  a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know,  b he cannot find it out.