Ecclesiastes 8 (ESV) (2024)

Keep the King's Command

8Who is like the wise?
And who knows the interpretation of a thing?
^(A)A man's wisdom makes his face shine,
and ^(B)the hardness of his face is changed.

²I say:^[a] Keep the king's command, because of ^(C)God's oath to him.^{[b] 3}Be not hasty to ^(D)go from his presence. Do not take your stand in an evil cause, for he does whatever he pleases. ⁴For the word of the king is supreme, and ^(E)who may say to him, “What are you doing?” ⁵Whoever keeps a command will know no evil thing, and the wise heart will know the proper time and the just way.^{[c] 6}For there is a time and a way ^(F)for everything, although man's trouble^[d] lies heavy on him. ⁷For he ^(G)does not know what is to be, for ^(H)who can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has power to ^(I)retain the spirit, ^(J)or power over the day of death. There is no ^(K)discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ^9(L)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

¹⁰Then I saw the wicked buried. They used to go in and out of ^(M)the holy place and were ^(N)praised^[e] in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^{[f] 11}Because ^(O)the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^(P)the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^(Q)prolongs his life, yet I know that ^(R)it will be well with ^(S)those who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³But it will ^(T)not be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^(U)a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

Man Cannot Know God's Ways

¹⁴There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there are righteous people ^(V)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^(W)to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵And I commend joy, for man ^(X)has nothing better under the sun but to ^(Y)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.

¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see ^(Z)the business that is done on earth, how neither ^(AA)day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^(AB)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, ^(AC)he cannot find it out.

8Who 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

⁸There 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.

⁹All 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹Because 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.

¹²Though 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:

¹³But 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.

¹⁴There 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.

¹⁵Then 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.

¹⁶When 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:)

¹⁷Then 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 farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.