| King James Bible | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Who 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. | 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 counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. | 2Keep the king's command because of your oath made before God. |
| 3Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. | 3Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence, and don't persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. |
| 4Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou? | 4For the king's word is authoritative, and who can say to him, "What are you doing?" |
| 5Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment. | 5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. |
| 6Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. | 6For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though man's troubles are heavy on him. |
| 7For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? | 7Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? |
| 8There 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. | 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 have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own 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. |
| 10And 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. | 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 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. | 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 do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which 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 shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not 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 which is done upon the earth; that there be just men, unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work 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. |
| 15Then 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 labour the days of his life, which God giveth 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 mine 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:) | 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 beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. | 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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