| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Who is like the wise? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. | 1Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man's wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed. |
| 2I say: Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him. | 2Keep the king's command because of your oath made before God. |
| 3Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. | 3Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. |
| 4For the word of the king is supreme, and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” | 4For the king's word is authoritative, and who can 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. | 5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. |
| 6For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him. | 6For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him. |
| 7For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be? | 7Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? |
| 8No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. | 8No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; there is no furlough in battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. |
| 9All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt. | 9All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one man has authority over another to his harm. |
| 10Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity. | 10In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they did so. This too is futile. |
| 11Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. | 11Because the sentence against a criminal act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit crime. |
| 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him. | 12Although a sinner commits crime a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people, for they are reverent before Him. |
| 13But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. | 13However, it will not go well with the wicked, and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow, for they are not reverent before God. |
| 14There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. | 14There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. |
| 15And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to 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. | 15So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for man under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself, 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 heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, | 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one's eyes do not close in sleep day or night), |
| 17then I saw all the work of God, that 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, he cannot find it out. | 17I observed all the work of God and concluded that man is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a man labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if the wise man claims to know it, he is unable to discover it. |
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