Ecclesiastes 8

1 Who knows the wise? and who knows the interpretation of a saying? A man's wisdom will lighten his countenance; but a man of shameless countenance will be hated.

Who [is] as the wise? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of man causeth his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

2 Observe the commandment of the king, and [that] because of the word of the oath of God.

I pray thee, the commandment of a king keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.

3 Be not hasty; thou shalt go forth out of his presence: stand not in an evil matter; for he will do whatsoever he shall please,

Be not troubled at his presence, thou mayest go, stand not in an evil thing, for all that he pleaseth he doth.

4 even as a king having power: and who will say to him, What doest thou?

Where the word of a king [is] power [is], and who saith to him, 'What dost thou?'

5 He that keeps the commandment shall not know an evil thing: and the heart of the wise knows the time of judgment.

Whoso is keeping a command knoweth no evil thing, and time and judgment the heart of the wise knoweth.

6 For to every thing there is time and judgment; for the knowledge of a man is great to him.

For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, for the misfortune of man is great upon him.

7 For there is no one that knows what is going to be: for who shall tell him how it shall be?

For he knoweth not that which shall be, for when it shall be who declareth to him?

8 There is no man that has power over the spirit to retain the spirit; and there is no power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in the day of the battle; neither shall ungodliness save her votary.

There is no man ruling over the spirit to restrain the spirit, and there is no authority over the day of death, and there is no discharge in battle, and wickedness delivereth not its possessors.

9 So I saw all this, and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun; all the things wherein man has power over man to afflict him.

All this I have seen so as to give my heart to every work that hath been done under the sun; a time that man hath ruled over man to his own evil.

10 And then I saw the ungodly carried into the tombs, and [that] out of the holy place: and they departed, and were praised in the city, because they had done thus: this also is vanity.

And so I have seen the wicked buried, and they went in, even from the Holy Place they go, and they are forgotten in the city whether they had so done. This also [is] vanity.

11 Because there is no contradiction made on the part of those who do evil quickly, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully determined in them to do evil.

Because sentence hath not been done [on] an evil work speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil.

12 He that has sinned has done evil from that time, and long from beforehand: nevertheless I know, that it is well with them that fear God, that they may fear before him:

Though a sinner is doing evil a hundred [times], and prolonging [himself] for it, surely also I know that there is good to those fearing God, who fear before Him.

13 but it shall not be well with the ungodly, and he shall not prolong his days, [which are] as a shadow; forasmuch as he fears not before God.

And good is not to the wicked, and he doth not prolong days as a shadow, because he is not fearing before God.

14 There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are righteous persons to whom it happens according to the doing of the ungodly; and there are ungodly men, to whom it happens according to the doing of the just: I said, This is also vanity.

There is a vanity that hath been done upon the earth, that there are righteous ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked ones unto whom it is coming according to the work of the righteous. I have said that this also [is] vanity.

15 Then I praised mirth, because there is no good for a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and be merry: and this shall attend him in his labour all the days of his life, which God has given him under the sun.

And I have praised mirth because there is no good to man under the sun except to eat and to drink, and to rejoice, and it remaineth with him of his labour the days of his life that God hath given to him under the sun.

16 Whereupon I set my heart to know wisdom, and to perceive the trouble that was wrought upon the earth: for there is that neither by day nor night sees sleep with his eyes.

When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that hath been done on the earth, (for there is also a spectator in whose eyes sleep is not by day and by night),

17 And I beheld all the works of God, that a man shall not be able to discover the work which is wrought under the sun; whatsoever things a man shall endeavour to seek, however a man may labour to seek it, yet he shall not find it; yea, how much soever a wise man may speak of knowing it, he shall not be able to find it: for I applied all this to my heart, and my heart has seen all this.

then I considered all the work of God, that man is not able to find out the work that hath been done under the sun, because though man labour to seek, yet he doth not find; and even though the wise man speak of knowing he is not able to find.