| New King James Version | Christian Standard 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 person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person'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 because of your oath made 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 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 to him, “What are you doing?” | 4For the king's word is authoritative, 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, | 5The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful, 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 every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person's troubles are heavy on him. |
| 7For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur? | 7Yet no one knows what will happen because who can tell him what will happen? |
| 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. | 8No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. |
| 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 all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm. |
| 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. | 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 those things. 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. | 11Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly, the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit 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 prolongs his life, 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; nor will he prolong his days, which are as 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 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 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. |
| 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 enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person 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, even though one sees no sleep day or night, | 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 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 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; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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