| New King James Version | New Living Translation |
| 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. | 1How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness. Obedience to the King |
| 2I say, “Keep the king’s commandment for the sake of your oath to God. | 2Obey the king since you vowed to God that you would. |
| 3Do not be hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand for an evil thing, for he does whatever pleases him.” | 3Don’t try to avoid doing your duty, and don’t stand with those who plot evil, for the king can do whatever he wants. |
| 4Where the word of a king is, there is power; And who may say to him, “What are you doing?” | 4His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it. |
| 5He who keeps his command will experience nothing harmful; And a wise man’s heart discerns both time and judgment, | 5Those who obey him will not be punished. Those who are wise will find a time and a way to do what is right, |
| 6Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, Though the misery of man increases greatly. | 6for there is a time and a way for everything, even when a person is in trouble. |
| 7For he does not know what will happen; So who can tell him when it will occur? | 7Indeed, how can people avoid what they don’t know is going to 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. | 8None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked. The Wicked and the Righteous |
| 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. | 9I have thought deeply about all that goes on here under the sun, where people have the power to hurt each other. |
| 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. | 10I have seen wicked people buried with honor. Yet they were the very ones who frequented the Temple and are now praised in the same city where they committed their crimes! This, too, is meaningless. |
| 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 a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. |
| 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. | 12But even though a person sins a hundred times and still lives a long time, I know that those who fear God will be better off. |
| 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. | 13The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows. |
| 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. | 14And this is not all that is meaningless in our world. In this life, good people are often treated as though they were wicked, and wicked people are often treated as though they were good. This is so meaningless! |
| 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 recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them 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, | 16In my search for wisdom and in my observation of people’s burdens here on earth, I discovered that there is ceaseless activity, day and 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 realized that no one can discover everything God is doing under the sun. Not even the wisest people discover everything, no matter what they claim. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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