Ecclesiastes 8

Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

¹Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. ^a

²Keep ^b the king’s command because of your oath made before God. ^{c 3}Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, ^d and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. ⁴For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, “What are you doing? ” ^{e 5}The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, ^f and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. ⁶For every activity there is a right time and procedure, ^g even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. ⁷Yet no one knows what will happen ^h because who can tell him what will happen? ⁸No one has authority over the wind ⁱ to restrain it, ^j and there is no authority over the day of death; ^k no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. ⁹All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

¹⁰In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, ^l and they were praised ^m in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. ¹¹Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, ⁿ the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. ¹²Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, ^o I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, ^p for they are reverent before him. ¹³However, it will not go well with the wicked, ^q and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, ^r for they are not reverent before God.

¹⁴There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, ^s and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. ^t I say that this too is futile. ¹⁵So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, ^u for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

¹⁶When I applied my mind to know wisdom ^v and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), ¹⁷I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; ^w even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.