Ecclesiastes 8:1-12 ▼

1 Who is like the wise one, and who knows the interpretation of a thing? The wisdom of a man makes his face shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.

2 I say: The mouth of a king you must keep, even for the sake of the oath of God.

3 Do not hurry to depart from his face; do not stand in an evil matter, for all that he delights in, he will do.

4 Where the word of a king is, power is, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

5 The one guarding a command will not know an evil thing, and the heart of a wise one knows a time and a judgment.

6 For to every delight there is a time and a judgment, though the misery of man is great upon him.

7 Indeed, he is not knowing what will happen; for when it will be, who can declare it to him?

8 No man is masterful over the wind to restrain the wind, and no one has mastery over the day of his death. And there is no discharge in the battle, and wickedness will not deliver its possessors.

9 All this I have seen, so as to give my heart to every work that is done the under sun; a time that man has ruled over man, for evil unto himself.

10 And in this I have seen the wicked ones being buried, and they went in, even from the place of holiness they walked, and they were praised in the city where thus they had done. This also is vapor.

11 Because an edict is not made on the evil work swiftly, upon thus the heart of the sons of man is fully set in them to do evil.

12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and it is prolonged to him still, surely I know that there is good for those fearing God, who fear from before His face.