Ecclesiastes 8:1-13 ▼

1 Who 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.

2 Keep the king’s command, I say, because of your oath before God {Elohim}.

3 Do not hasten to leave his presence, and do not persist in a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

4 For the king’s word is supreme, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”

5 Whoever keeps his command will come to no harm, and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure.

6 For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.

7 Since no one knows what will happen, who can tell him what is to come?

8 As no man has power over the wind {ruach} 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.

9 All 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.

10 Then too, I saw the burial of the wicked who used to go in and out of the holy place, and they were praised [were soon forgotten] in the city where they had done so. This too is futile.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not speedily executed, the hearts of men become fully set on doing evil.

12 Although 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 {Elohim}, who are reverent in His presence.

13 Yet because the wicked do not fear God {Elohim}, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.