Ecclesiastes, 8

1. Who compares with the sage? Who else knows how to explain things? Wisdom lights up the face, enlivening a grim expression.

1. Who [is] as the wise [man]? and who knoweth the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom maketh his face to shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed.

2. Obey the king's command and, because of the divine promise,

2. I [counsel thee] to keep the king's commandment, and [that] in regard of the oath of God.

3. be in no hurry to depart from it; do not be obstinate in a bad cause, since the king will do as he likes in any case.

3. Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.

4. Since the word of a king is sovereign, what is the point of saying, 'Why do that?'

4. Where the word of a king [is, there is] power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

5. One who obeys the command will come to no harm; the heart of the sage knows the right moment and verdict,

5. Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

6. for there is a right moment and verdict for everything; but misfortune lies heavy upon anyone

6. Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man [is] great upon him.

7. who does not know what the outcome will be, no one is going to say how things will turn out.

7. For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be?

8. No one can control the wind and stop it from blowing, no one can control the day of death. From war there is no escape, no more can wickedness save the person who commits it.

8. [There is] no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

9. I have seen all this to be so, having carefully studied everything taking place under the sun, while one person tyrannises over another to the former's detriment.

9. All this have I seen, and applied my heart unto every work that is done under the sun: [there is] a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt.

10. And again, I have observed the wicked carried to their graves, and people leaving the holy place and, once out in the city, forgetting how the wicked used to behave; how futile this is too!

10. And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this [is] also vanity.

11. Because the sentence on the evil-doer is not carried out on the instant, people's hearts are full of desire to do wrong.

11. Because 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.

12. The sinner who does wrong a hundred times lives on. But this too I know, that there is good in store for people who fear God, because they fear him,

12. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his [days] be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:

13. but there is no good in store for the wicked because he does not fear God, and so, like a shadow, he will not prolong his days.

13. But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.

14. Another futile thing that happens on earth: upright people being treated as though they were wicked and wicked people being treated as though they were upright. To me this is one more example of futility.

14. There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; that there be just [men], unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked; again, there be wicked [men], to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also [is] vanity.

15. And therefore I praise joy, since human happiness lies only in eating and drinking and in taking pleasure; this comes from what someone achieves during the days of life that God gives under the sun.

15. Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.

16. Having applied myself to acquiring wisdom and to observing the activity taking place in the world -- for day and night our eyes enjoy no rest-

16. When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also [there is that] neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:)

17. I have scrutinised God's whole creation: you cannot get to the bottom of everything taking place under the sun; you may wear yourself out in the search, but you will never find it. Not even a sage can get to the bottom of it, even if he says that he has done so.

17. Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek [it] out, yet he shall not find [it]; yea further; though a wise [man] think to know [it], yet shall he not be able to find [it].