Prediger 8 | New International Version

1 Who is like the wise? Who knows the explanation of things? A person’s wisdom brightens their face and changes its hard appearance.

Obey the king

2 Obey the king’s command, I say, because you took an oath before God.

3 Do not be in a hurry to leave the king’s presence. Do not stand up for a bad cause, for he will do whatever he pleases.

4 Since a king’s word is supreme, who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

5 Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure.

6 For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.

7 Since no-one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come?

8 As no-one has power over the wind to contain it, so* no-one has power over the time of their death. As no-one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practise it.

9 All this I saw, as I applied my mind to everything done under the sun. There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own* hurt.

10 Then too, I saw the wicked buried – those who used to come and go from the holy place and receive praise* in the city where they did this. This too is meaningless.

11 When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, people’s hearts are filled with schemes to do wrong.

12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him.

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

14 There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: the righteous who get what the wicked deserve, and the wicked who get what the righteous deserve. This too, I say, is meaningless.

15 So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labour that is done on earth – people getting no sleep day or night –

17 then I saw all that God has done. No-one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no-one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.

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English Standard Version

Keep the King’s Command

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

2 I say:* Keep the king’s command, because of God’s oath to him.*

3 Be not hasty to go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases.

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

5 Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.*

6 For there is a time and a way for everything, although man’s trouble* lies heavy on him.

7 For he does not know what is to be, for who can tell him how it will be?

8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

9 All this I observed while applying my heart to all that is done under the sun, when man had power over man to his hurt.

Those Who Fear God Will Do Well

10 Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of the holy place and were praised* in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.*

11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.

12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.

13 But it will not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God’s Ways

14 There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

15 And I commend joy, for man has nothing better under the sun but to eat and drink and be joyful, for this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one’s eyes see sleep,

17 then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out. Even though a wise man claims to know, he cannot find it out.

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