Before the king
1Who is like the wise man? And who knows the meaning of a thing? A man’s wisdom lights up his face, and the hardness of his face is changed. 2I say: keep the king’s command, and do it for the sake of the oath before God. 3Do not be hasty to leave his presence; do not stand in an evil matter, for he does whatever he pleases. 4Where the word of a king is, there is power, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?” 5Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and a wise heart knows the time and the judgment. 6For every matter has its time and its judgment, though a man’s trouble lies heavy on him. 7For he does not know what will be; and when it will be — who can tell him? 8No man has power over the spirit, to hold back the spirit; no one has power over the day of death; there is no discharge from that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who possess it. 9All this I saw when I gave my heart to every deed that is done under the sun, at a time when one man had power over another to hurt him. 10And then I saw the wicked buried — they used to come and go from the holy place — and they were forgotten in the city where they had done so. This too is a breath.* 11Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of the sons of man is full within them to do evil. 12Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, I know all the same that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him; 13and it will not be well with the wicked man, and he will not lengthen his days, which pass like a shadow, because he does not fear before God. 14There is a breath that is done upon the earth: there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked, and there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this too is a breath. 15So I praised joy, since there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and rejoice; and this will go with him in his toil through the days of his life that God has given him under the sun. 16When I gave my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on the earth — for neither by day nor by night do a man’s eyes see sleep — 17then I saw all the work of God: that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much a man toils to seek it, he will not find it; and even if the wise man says he knows, he cannot find it.
Notes
- 8:10 — The Hebrew text reads “they were forgotten” (yishtakkehu). Some Hebrew manuscripts, the Septuagint and the Vulgate read “they were praised” (yishtabbehu), which differs by a single letter in Hebrew, and many versions translate it so. This translation follows the Hebrew text.
