Ecclesiastes 8

Wisdom, Authorities, and Inequities

1 Who is like the wise person, and who knows the interpretation of a matter? A person’s wisdom brightens his face, and the sternness of his face is changed.  * 8:1 Dt 28:50

2 Keep  * 8:2 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg, Tg, Syr; other Hb mss read As for me, keep the king’s command because of your oath made before God.  * 8:2 Ex 22:11; 2Sm 21:7; Ezk 17:183 Do not be in a hurry; leave his presence,  * 8:3 Ec 10:4 and don’t persist in a bad cause, since he will do whatever he wants. 4 For the king’s word is authoritative, and who can say to him, "What are you doing? "  * 8:4 Jb 9:12; Dn 4:355 The one who keeps a command will not experience anything harmful,  * 8:5 Rm 13:3 and a wise heart knows the right time and procedure. 6 For every activity there is a right time and procedure,  * 8:6 Ec 3:1,17 even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him. 7 Yet no one knows what will happen  * 8:7 Ec 3:22; 6:12; 9:12; 10:14 because who can tell him what will happen? 8 No one has authority over the wind  * 8:8 Or life-breath to restrain it,  * 8:8 Ps 148:8; Pr 30:4; Mk 4:39 and there is no authority over the day of death;  * 8:8 Jn 10:18; 2Tm 1:10 no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape. 9 All this I have seen, applying my mind to all the work that is done under the sun, at a time when one person has authority over another to his harm.

10 In such circumstances, I saw the wicked buried. They came and went from the holy place,  * 8:10 Ec 9:5 and they were praised  * 8:10 Some Hb mss, LXX, Aq, Theod, Sym; other Hb mss read forgotten in the city where they did those things. This too is futile. 11 Because the sentence against an evil act is not carried out quickly,  * 8:11 Rm 2:4; 2Pt 3:9 the heart of people is filled with the desire to commit evil. 12 Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life,  * 8:12 Ec 7:15 I also know that it will go well with God-fearing people,  * 8:12 Dt 12:25; Ps 37:11; Pr 1:33; Is 3:10 for they are reverent before him. 13 However, it will not go well with the wicked,  * 8:13 Is 3:11 and they will not lengthen their days like a shadow,  * 8:13 Jb 14:2; Ec 6:12 for they are not reverent before God.

14 There is a futility that is done on the earth: there are righteous people who get what the actions of the wicked deserve,  * 8:14 Ec 7:15 and there are wicked people who get what the actions of the righteous deserve.  * 8:14 Jb 21:7; Ps 73:3; Jr 12:1 I say that this too is futile. 15 So I commended enjoyment because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and enjoy himself,  * 8:15 Ec 2:24 for this will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun.

16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom  * 8:16 Ec 1:13–14 and to observe the activity that is done on the earth (even though one’s eyes do not close in sleep day or night), 17 I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it;  * 8:17 Ec 3:11; 7:25–29; 11:5 even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it.