Ecclesiastes 8
1 Sapientia hominis lucet in vultu eius, et potentissimus faciem illius commutabit.
Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.
2 Ego os regis observo, et præcepta iuramenti Dei.
I [counsel thee] to keep the king's commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God.
3 Ne festines recedere a facie eius, neque permaneas in opere malo: quia omne, quod voluerit, faciet:
Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatever pleaseth him.
4 et sermo illius potestate plenus est: nec dicere ei quisquam potest: Quare ita facis?
Where the word of a king [is], [there is] power: and who may say to him, what doest thou?
5 Qui custodit præceptum, non experietur quidquam mali. Tempus et responsionem cor sapientis intelligit.
He who keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.
6 Omni negotio tempus est, et opportunitas, et multa hominis afflictio:
Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him.
7 quia ignorat præterita, et futura nullo scire potest nuncio.
For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?
8 Non est in hominis potestate prohibere spiritum, nec habet potestatem in die mortis, nec sinitur quiescere ingruente bello, neque salvabit impietas impium.
[There is] no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
9 Omnia hæc consideravi, et dedi cor meum in cunctis operibus, quæ fiunt sub sole. Interdum dominatur homo homini in malum suum.
All this have I seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time in which one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.
10 Vidi impios sepultos: qui etiam cum adhuc viverent, in loco sancto erant, et laudabantur in civitate quasi iustorum operum. sed et hoc vanitas est.
And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this [is] also vanity.
11 Etenim quia non profertur cito contra malos sententia, absque timore ullo filii hominum perpetrant mala.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 Attamen peccator ex eo quod centies facit malum, et per patientiam sustentatur, ego cognovi quod erit bonum timentibus Deum, qui verentur faciem eius.
Though a sinner doeth evil a hundred times, and his [days] are prolonged, yet surely I know that it will be well with them that fear God, who fear before him:
13 Non sit bonum impio, nec prolongentur dies eius, sed quasi umbra transeant qui non timent faciem Domini.
But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
14 Est et alia vanitas, quæ fit super terram. sunt iusti, quibus mala proveniunt, quasi opera egerint impiorum: et sunt impii, qui ita securi sunt, quasi iustorum facta habeant. sed et hoc vanissimum iudico.
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there are just [men], to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked [men], to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also [is] vanity.
15 Laudavi igitur lætitiam quod non esset homini bonum sub sole, nisi quod comederet, et biberet, atque gauderet: et hoc solum secum auferret de labore suo in diebus vitæ suæ, quos dedit ei Deus sub sole.
Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labor the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
16 Et apposui cor meum ut scirem sapientiam, et intelligerem distentionem, quæ versatur in terra: est homo, qui diebus et noctibus somnum non capit oculis.
When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also [there is that] neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes: )
17 Et intellexi quod omnium operum Dei nullam possit homo invenire rationem eorum, quæ fiunt sub sole: et quanto plus laboraverit ad quærendum, tanto minus inveniat: etiam si dixerit sapiens se nosse, non poterit reperire.
Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man may labor to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find [it]; yes further; though a wise [man] thinketh to know [it], yet shall he not be able to find [it].
