Ecclesiastes 7:29–8:17

²⁹See, this alone I found, that ^xGod made man upright, but ^ythey have sought out many schemes.

Keep the King’s Command

8Who is like the wise?

And who knows the interpretation of a thing?

^zA man’s wisdom makes his face shine,

and ^athe hardness of his face is changed.

²I say:¹ Keep the king’s command, because of ^bGod’s oath to him.^{2 3}Be not hasty to ^cgo 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 ^dwho 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.^{3 6}For there is a time and a way ^efor everything, although man’s trouble⁴ lies heavy on him. ⁷For he ^fdoes not know what is to be, for ^gwho can tell him how it will be? ⁸No man has power to ^hretain the spirit, ⁱor power over the day of death. There is no ^jdischarge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it. ^9kAll 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 ^lthe holy place and were ^mpraised⁵ in the city where they had done such things. This also is vanity.^{6 11}Because ⁿthe sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, ^othe heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and ^pprolongs his life, yet I know that ^qit will be well with ^rthose who fear God, because they fear before him. ¹³But it will ^snot be well with the wicked, neither will he prolong his days like ^ta 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 ^uto whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked, and there are wicked people ^vto whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵And I commend joy, for man ^whas nothing better under the sun but to ^xeat 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 ^ythe business that is done on earth, how neither ^zday nor night do one’s eyes see sleep, ¹⁷then I saw all the work of God, that ^aman 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, ^bhe cannot find it out.