Ecclesiastes 8
1A man’s wisdom will lighten his countenance; 1 But a man of shameless countenance will be hated. 1
2Observe the commandment of the king, 1 And that because of the word of the oath of God. 1
3Be not hasty; thou shalt go forth out of his presence: 1 Stand not in an evil matter; 1 For he will do whatsoever he shall please, 1
4Even as a king having power: 1 And who will say to him, What doest thou? 1
5He that keeps the commandment shall not know an evil thing: 1 And the heart of the wise knows the time of judgment. 1
6For to everything there is time and judgment; 1 For the knowledge of a man is great to him. 1
7For there is no one that knows what is going to be: 1 For who shall tell him how it shall be? 1
8There is no man that has power over the spirit 1 To retain the spirit; 1 And there is no power in the day of death: 1 And there is no discharge in the day of battle; 1 Neither shall ungodliness save her votary. 1
9So I saw all this, 1 And I applied my heart to every work 1 That has been done under the sun; 1 All the things wherein man has power 1 Over man to afflict him. 1
10And then I saw the ungodly carried into the tombs, 1 And that out of the holy place: 1 And they departed, and were praised in the city, 1 Because they had done thus: 1 This also is vanity. 1
11Because there is no contradiction made 1 On the part of those who do evil quickly, 1 Therefore the heart of the children of men 1 Is fully determined in them to do evil. 1
12He that has sinned has done evil from that time, 1 And long from beforehand: 1 Nevertheless I know, 1 That it is well with them that fear God, 1 That they may fear before him: 1
13But it shall not be well with the ungodly, 1 And he shall not prolong his days, which are as a shadow; 1 Forasmuch as he fears not before God. 1
14There is a vanity which is done upon the earth; 1 That there are righteous persons to whom it happens 1 According to the doing of the ungodly; 1 And there are ungodly men, to whom it happens 1 According to the doing of the just: 1 I said, This is also vanity. 1
15Then I praised mirth, 1 Because there is no good for a man under the sun, 1 But to eat, and drink, and be merry: 1 And this shall attend him 1 In his labor all the days of his life, 1 Which God has given him under the sun. 1
16Whereupon I set my heart to know wisdom, 1 And to perceive the trouble 1 That was wrought upon the earth: 1 For there is that neither by day nor night 1 Sees sleep with his eyes. 1
17And I beheld all the works of God, 1 That a man shall not be able to discover 1 The work which is wrought under the sun; 1 Whatsoever things a man shall endeavor to seek, 1 However a man may labor to seek it, 1 Yet he shall not find it; 1 Yea, how much soever a wise man may speak of knowing it, 1 He shall not be able to find it: 1 For I applied all this to my heart, 1 And my heart has seen all this.