| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, And the sternness of his face is changed. | 1Who is like the wise man? 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 commandment for the sake of your oath to God. | 2Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God. |
| 3Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.” | 3Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases. |
| 4Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?” | 4For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” |
| 5He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment, | 5Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. |
| 6Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly. | 6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. |
| 7For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur? | 7Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come? |
| 8No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, And wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it. | 8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. |
| 9All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun: There is a time in which one man rules over another to his own hurt. | 9All this I have seen, applying my mind to every deed that is done under the sun; there is a time when one man lords it over another to his own detriment. |
| 10Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. | 10Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised in the city where they had done so. This too is futile. |
| 11Because the 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. | 11When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil. |
| 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. | 12Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence. |
| 13But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. | 13Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow. |
| 14There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens 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 men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile. |
| 15So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun. | 15So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy 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, even though one sees no sleep day or night, | 16When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the task that one performs on the earth—though his eyes do not see sleep in the day or even in the night— |
| 17then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. | 17I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend. |
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